Title: A Legend Reborn

Author name: Trugeta

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Rumiko Takahashi and VIZ as well as Akira Toriyama and many others. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. Note further that I don't own any of the trademarks mentioned in this story.

Also, the OCs used in this story are a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any person, living or dead is not intended and purely coincidental.

This story takes place after Movie 10 of Dragonball Z and at the beginning of the Ranma series. It's an AU, and reviews are welcome and appreciated.


Chapter 27: A Saotome in hell pt. 2

"Lordy?" someone asked, and Ranma felt himself being roughly shaken at the shoulder.

"Mmmmble grmmble… five more minutes, pops," Ranma muttered and attempted to swat the offending hand away.

"I ain't pops and you ain't gonna get five mins, lordy. So get the fuck up and listen!" the voice that sounded remarkably similar to his own growled angrily before the owner of said voice kicked him firmly in the ribs.

"Oww!" Ranma yelled and practically body-flickered from lying flat on his face to standing on his feet, and the first thing he did was to level a glare at the offender.

"Shut it," said offender said angrily, using Ranma's bafflement to steal his thunder, "I ain't got neither the time nor the patience to hear your whining, so shut the fuck up and listen, lordy.

"Yeah, I look like you, eh? That's 'cause I am you, or rather that part of you you defeated after you killed Mousse. Good kill, that one, by the way," the man with his face complimented with a savage grin, "Well, in short, I am the embodiment of your instincts, your rage, your hate and your drive. I am everything you're not. You can call me amnaR."

"O… kay," Ranma retorted after he had processed what this strange mirror image of him had said, "So why the fuck do ya call me 'lordy'?"

"It's 'cause you managed to suppress that part of ya that no Legendary Super Saiyan managed to control before you, that's why I call ya lordy 'cause you're the lord of this body, much to my eternal annoyance. You managed to wrest control from me, the part that wants to kill, maim, destroy, torture-"

"I get the picture, thank you," Ranma interrupted dryly. "So what's that gotta do with… Oh Kami-sama! I died!"

"Not… yet. But you're just a hairsbreadth away from meeting Lord Enma 'cause Dra'Kos was too fast and strong for ya, you fuckin' weakling! At the moment you're dangling from that fucklord's tail 'n' chains like a gutted fish. But not all is lost," amnaR said with a bloodthirsty grin, "As I said, I was formed when you managed to control your instincts and darker emotions. Call it some case of fucked up boxing in or something. But when you did that you also denied yourself a lot of power. Hate and anger, to the dark side they lead, yes, but they also make you powerful. Very powerful. And it's such mighty fine a feeling to feel skulls crush under your fingers like ripe melons-"

"That's not a very effective sales pitch," Ranma interrupted with a frown and thought that he shouldn't have watched those Star Wars movies with his girls after hearing his alter ego talk about 'the dark side', "In case you don't remember, I don't like to kill when it's not needed."

"But that's the point!" his mirror image cried, "It is needed! We are in hell after all! And if you want to survive longer than a few minutes, 'specially what with us dangling from Drake face's fucking tail you ain't got a choice.

"And think about it, if Dra'Kos, the third ranked demon and Belial's number two is this powerful, how powerful must Belial's number one be, and not to mention Belial himself when he's at full power? You got no alternative. Let me out!"

"And let you run amok? Fuck no! I remember how hard it was to control you, how much I wanted to crush, kill and destroy anything that moved," Ranma retorted with a disgusted expression, "No, I'd rather die than become a monster that's a danger to his family and friends. I could never forgive myself if something happened to Nabiki and Kasumi because of you... me."

"I can't believe you! You'd rather die than let me help and crush our enemies?" amnaR cried.

"Yes. The most important factor to the Art is control," Ranma returned with conviction, "As you said yourself, you're the embodiment of my instincts, of everything negative. In other words, you are the opposite of control. And I will die before losing it like I did before I got you under control," he added with even greater conviction.

"You'd leave Kasumi and Nabiki to their fates? At the non-existent mercy of hell's most evil demons?" his other asked, deciding to play his trump card.

"I have to believe that Goku and the others will be strong enough to stop Belial and his lieutenants," Ranma sighed with a pained expression and straightened his back, "There's naught for me but to hope."

"B- But-" amnaR stuttered, unable to wrap his mind around it, 'He's serious! He's fuckin' serious! He'd really rather die than let me out and kick ass! What can I... One sec!' he thought and began to grin when a thought popped up, "You're hoping that they'll wish you back, right? And that the power boost you'll get from dying will make you strong enough to win the next round, eh? Like what happened to Cell when he blew himself up and returned... Clever, lordy."

"No," Ranma said flatly, his other echoing him dumbly, "I'm realistic enough to assume that one cannot be wished back from the true hell. I have mastered the Instantaneous Movement technique 'cause I've seen it used often enough, and the fact that I can't use it to teleport back to that planet Belial's on or even our plane of existence is a massive clue."

'Fuck!' swore Ranma's other in his mind, 'He's really made up his mind, and his arguments are good! What to do? What to do? What can I do?' he asked himself and sighed as he arrived at the only viable option. "Alright, lordy. Here's the deal. First off, I swear on my honour as a Saiyan warrior that I'll abide by my word. Like I got a fuckin' choice," he spat disgustedly.

"Oh?" Ranma inquired, his interest piqued by his other's strange behaviour.

"Don't fuckin' rub it in, smug basterd," amnaR growled warningly, "Even though I ain't got your death wish I got my pride."

"So? Get to the bloody point," Ranma retorted with clenched teeth, "And make it count."

His other barred his teeth for a few moments before visibly reigning himself in. "Very well. I hate what I'm about to suggest and I'll never live it down, but what use is being boxed in within a bastard who chooses death over crushing his enemies?"

"Sales pitch," Ranma interjected dryly.

"Yeah, yeah, fuck you very much too," amnaR waved him off with a sneer, "I'll make it short so that even you'll understand, lordy. I want to live, even if it is through you. I want to see our enemies crushed under our boots, beaten to death with their own arms... You get the picture. To that end I'm willing to ."

"Did my hearing go bad or did you just say you wanna merge with me with me being the dominant part?" Ranma asked and couldn't keep the smirk off his face.

amnaR growled threateningly. "Rub it in one more time and the deal's off."

Ranma's smirk faded into a neutral expression. "If you lie to me or try to betray me I will end you. Regardless of what it takes," he said in a voice that was eerie in its lack of inflection, "Got me?"

"Perfectly, lordy," amnaR replied and muttered, "Didn't think he had it in him."

Ranma held out his right hand. His mirror image looked at it for a moment before grasping it firmly. "You got yourself a deal," the Saotome said.

"Deal," amnaR nodded, "Just remember, it will be difficult to control that much power in the beginning 'cause you'll get a boost from merging with me and from almost dying. Do what your instincts tell you and rip the dork lord apart."

"Nice try, amnaR," Ranma said with narrowed eyes, "But that aside, I will kill Dra'Kos. And I'll enjoy kicking his scaly butt before I end him."

amnaR sighed, but then a boyish grin spread on his face and he shrugged. "Was worth a shot. Oh, and lordy, don't waste any time and take a Senzu bean as quickly as possible. I dunno if the power boost will take care of our wounds, and I'm not certain our healing factor is strong or quick enough."

"Healing factor?" Ranma asked with a raised brow.

"Must I spill everything for you?" his other sighed and rubbed his temples, "Our body always healed quickly due to us being Saiyan, but the lingering effects of that medication you took when Belial poisoned you somehow combined with that weakling Clas'Ti'Vorus' blood. Blood that entered our system when we almost killed him. And you saw how quickly he healed."

"Yeah, that cut on his forehead healed in seconds," Ranma muttered in agreement.

"Yeah. Don't ask me how, I ain't no scientist and I don't fuckin' care, but seems like we got us one hell of a healing factor. It's not as good as that bastard Cell's who could even regrow limbs and recover from just about anything, but regenerating inner organs and such ain't nothing to sneeze at.

"We should look into getting a wish from that huge ass dragon-"

"Shenlong," Ranma interrupted snidely.

"Whatever. We should wish for the same regenerative powers Cell had. What with the trouble you idiot keep blundering into it's a must have," amnaR griped.

"The insults aside, not a bad suggestion, asshole," Ranma returned in grudging agreement.

"What can I say, I'm just that brilliant," his other retorted pompously, "But as said, take the bean to be on the safe side," amnaR urged. "And now let's get this show on the road. The quicker the better, 'cause you annoy me, lordy."

"The feeling's mutual, bastard," Ranma returned with a glower.

amnaR made a derisive noise, grabbed Ranma's hands without further ado and began to glow black, and then Ranma knew no more.

-.-

Dra'Kos looked down at the puny body impaled on his tail and chains and snorted disdainfully. "Bah. The mortal hardly offered me a fight. It is a wonder such a weakling beat Fr'Stn-"

The demon lord trailed off when the supposed corpse opened his eyes, revealing a gaze that was filled with insanity, hate and rage. An aura of black energy began to swirl around Ranma, and strong hands grabbed the tail firmly shortly before a primal yell of rage erupted from the Saiyan's mouth.

The energies building within Ranma grew too fast, too exponentially for Dra'Kos to have even the slightest chance to react, and when the Saiyan's powers manifested themselves in the form of a circular black wall of energy emanating from his body the demon lord's tail and chains were cleanly ripped off where Ranma held them in a vice-like grip when the Saotome's energy exploded outward, blowing away a demon lord that was screaming in pain due to the sudden loss of his tail and sentient chains.

The Z-Fighter's undisputedly strongest member continued to yell as his power continued to grow to unheard of heights, and the parts of Dra'Kos still piercing his abdomen were expelled and incinerated by his power from one moment to the next. He then quickly heeded his other's words and popped a Senzu bean in his mouth, and his already rapidly healing wounds closed up and healed in a flash.

"Round Two," was all that Ranma said before cracking his neck with an evil smirk, and then he crossed his arms across his chest, and acting on a flash of inspiration that had given him insight into what best to do with the energy building up inside of him he started to spin on the spot in front of the gobsmacked Dra'Kos who was hovering about twenty metres away with a look on his face that was a mixture of hate, rage and pain.

Ranma, a cold expression on his face, didn't care one iota as to the emotional state of his enemy and continued to release an enormous amount of ki from his body while spinning faster and faster. The super-charged energy released into the surroundings was caught in the momentum of Ranma's ever faster spin, and his growing output meant that a gigantic twister of power given physical form in shape of a black tornado literally ablaze with countless arcs of lightning was called into existence.

Dra'Kos' eyes widened to the size of dinner plates at what he was witness to. Not a few minutes ago the mortal had been powerless and as good as dead, and now he was putting out power that absolutely dwarfed anything hell had to offer, including himself, Que'Tar and Lord Belial! And it was still growing! It was utter madness, and for the first time in eons Dra'Kos felt the icy-cold tendrils of fear ensnare him as he watched the twister of downright malicious black energy that his foe had called into being grow, the man at its core being enshrouded by an aura so black he was nigh unseeable.

The third ranked demon of hell snarled defiantly and threw fireballs and a wall of fire courtesy of his sword at Ranma, but the whirlwind of power surrounding the Saiyan easily swallowed up the fire-based attacks and continued to grow higher and higher as if feeding off the flames. Hell's number three was forced to call a flaming aura into existence as the cone tip of the twister touched the ground and started to soak up anything that wasn't nailed down, and Dra'Kos beat his massive wings with all his might just to stay clear of the hurricane Ranma's power had created.

It was no use, and before long the demon lord found his aura snuffed out and himself trapped in the maelstrom of power surrounding Ranma, and regardless of how much he struggled, his attempts at escaping were futile. Gale winds battered and slashed at Dra'Kos body with incredible force and wind howled in the demon's ears like a malevolent animal, and just when he was about to throw all caution to the wind and ready to attack Ranma head on regardless of what was happening a primordial yell emanated from the Saiyans' position accompanied by the emergence of a startling amount of lightning bolts at the core of Ranma's aura, and all of a sudden, with a huge shockwave and a sonic boom the teenage Saiyan's power exploded outward, causing the hurricane to dissipate violently.

Dra'Kos was literally thrown backwards head over heels and tumbled through the air without control, and just the fact that his wings were incredibly strong prevented him from crashing into the ground. Hovering a metre above ground the demon lord took a moment to recompose himself, then he touched down on the ground and used his powerful legs to catapult himself back into the air with a look of rage on his face.

Just as he reached Ranma's height a gust of hot wind blew away the last remnants of the dust cloud that had accumulated around Ranma during his power up. The demon's eyes widened in surprise upon the sight revealed to him; his adversary wasn't just looking more powerful with the obvious gain in muscle mass and height, he was also feeling it, and the demon lord stopped dead in his tracks to survey the changed mortal.

The first thing that stood out were the arcs of lightning that were dancing around the man's body in thick strands, the sound of strong electrical discharges filling the air. It made the mortal look not unlike a miniature thundercloud, and an angry one at that. The mortal's hairstyle had somehow changed with the man's hair standing up even straighter and looking not unlike a crest of blades. An additional easily visible change was the long and strong-looking yellow-green coloured tail sprouting from the man's back which probably made for a good clobbering tool.

Dra'Kos senses told him what he had already felt during the mortal's strange power up, that no one in hell, not even their king, was a match for whatever the mortal had become, and that he was way in over his head. But his pride forced him to push these thoughts into that back of his head, a sneer appearing on his face. "These cosmetic changes won't safe you, mortal! You shall die like the squealing pig you are, gutted by my claws!"

The massive demon lord then bellowed in unbridled rage at some mortal challenging his sovereignty on his turf and made move to dash forward when Ranma suddenly opened his completely red eyes and winked out of existence. Dra'Kos was much too slow to react as Ranma practically reappeared in front of him with seemingly no delay at all. In the time it had taken Dra'Kos' eyes to widen he had already been punched in the gut with force never before seen in hell, a loud sonic boom accompanying the attack. A yell of pain ripped from the demon's throat as the inner organs around the impact zone were seemingly liquefied.

The demon lord's axe fell from numb claws as Dra'Kos doubled over and clutched his gut with his right hand, and he raised his head with visible strain to look directly into compassionless red eyes that were eerie in their mercilessness. He had to make an effort to concentrate when the mortal spoke. "Thanks for unleashing me, you stupid beast. Without you almost killing me I might never have found out just how powerful I can become. As thanks for that I'm going to make your demise painful beyond imagination."

'And what about my contribution, eh, lordy?' an annoying voice asked.

'You! I thought I'd got rid of you when we merged!' Ranma thought back irritably all the while keeping his eyes on Dra'Kos who was showing signs of recovering from the blow he'd been dealt.

'Hah, you wish! You ain't that lucky, lordy!' amnaR chuckled, 'I'm here to stay!'

'Oh goody, my very own peanut gallery. Feh,' Ranma grumbled and effortlessly caught the giant blade coming in at neck-level with his armoured right hand.

'Yep. Now go and rip that asshole a new one or two, lordy!' amnaR yelled.

'Shut the fuck up, I gotta concentrate,' Ranma bit back and sneered at Dra'Kos while he gripped the demon's blade tighter.

"He caught Frach'Tach! Impossible!" Dra'Kos exclaimed in sheer disbelief.

Ranma gave the demon lord a superior smirk and began to apply crushing pressure to the sword in his grip. The weapon groaned loudly as the stress inflicted upon its structural integrity grew and grew, Dra'Kos surprise soaring to ever new levels that the mortal was able to damage his blade as was evidenced by the fingerprints he was leaving. The inevitable happened sooner rather than later, a protesting groan of over-stressed metal preceding the blade snapping in two.

The ascended Legendary Super Saiyan grinned and crushed his half of the former flaming sword into a tight ball in his armoured hands under the disbelieving gaze of the massive demon lord and let it fall to the ground with an expression of disdain on his face. "I hope this blade was important to ya, drake face," he sneered.

Dra'Kos roared in rage and dropped the remnants of his sword, flapped his massive wings and disappeared toward the ground. Ranma's smile widened and he disappeared toward the ground as well, exhilarating in the feeling of moving faster than ever before.

He was already standing on the ground with Dra'Kos massive axe in his right hand, a mean grin playing on his face when the dragon-like demon landed ten metres away with a growl a full five seconds later, and Ranma asked with a shit-eating grin, "Lose something, li'l dragon?"

Dra'Kos just snarled and barred his fangs in lieu of an answer, and just when he was about to attack Ranma's face lost its smile, a hard and merciless look appearing on his face. "Here, you can have it back!" he yelled and threw the doublebladed-axe with so much force that the weapon was little more than a blur.

The demon only had time to blink before the four metre axe cleaved right through his gut, and his tortured scream reverberated throughout the vicinity as the weapon continued onward, flying off into the distance until it was nothing more than a speck on the horizon. Ranma eyed his handiwork critically and pasted a look of surprise on his face as he surveyed the large hole in Dra'Kos abdomen. "I guess that you didn't catch it means you didn't want it back. Feh, could've said so 'cause then I wouldn't have bothered giving it back to ya," he sneered. "Woulda made a nice decoration for my bedroom, but no, you'd to be an asshole about it. Fucktard."

"RaaaaaAAAAAAHHHHH!" Dra'Kos yelled in absolute fury and called a ring of fire into being that travelled out from his rapidly healing body in a circle.

Ranma didn't even blink as he sped upward and forward, and he reappeared in front of Dra'Kos instantly, his cocked back right fist hitting the demon squarely in the jaw. The Saotome felt the demon's jaw break under the force of the blow and a satisfied grin spread on his face as Dra'Kos was sent flying away like a missile. The demon lord made no attempt to right his uncontrolled flight which suggested that he was a bit out of it, and his grin turning darker Ranma disappeared so fast that he left a crater in his wake.

Dra'Kos' unplanned trip via Air Ranma had found its end in a mountain wall with the demon lord having found himself embedded deeply in said wall, and he was just about to use his power to free himself when a punch to the chest caused agony to flare up in his abused body. The force of the punch thrown by Ranma was so great that Dra'Kos felt himself being blasted through what appeared to be kilometres of hard, unforgiving rock that cut into his skin like knives.

Hell's number three gnashed his teeth and swore bitter revenge on the mortal, but as he came out on the other side of the mountain he'd been bashed through a heavy boot to the back disabused him of the notion. He yelled in surprise, anger and pain as he was catapulted into the air, and before he could even think of regaining control he felt the mortal reappear above him.

Almost in the same moment two fists came down on his stomach and even though his healing factor had worked wonders on the abdominal wound it hurt like a bitch. Dra'Kos felt himself rocket to the ground at incredible speed and a huge fountain of dust and debris was kicked up into the air as the demon lord was driven into the ground.

Before he could even begin to extract himself from the crater he had made the voice of his enemy spoke up from directly above him. "I know that this hardly did any damage. Your healing factor, right? But I'm getting tired of toying with ya, and I don't see the need to prolong this battle as it might just allow you to pull a rabbit outta your hat. And that's something I can't and won't risk," he said and drew the sword on his back, "Thanks for unleashing me and giving me the power I need to cut through hell like a demon cuts through humans, dork. Sayonara."

Dra'Kos eyes widened and he attempted everything to move out of the way in time, but the sword bearing down on him seemed to have been swung at the speed of light and cleaved through the hard ground before penetrating his flesh at neck-level. The demon lord gurgled as the poisoned blade bit through his hard skin and he tried everything to escape, including the as good as death sentence to use the emergency teleport to his lord's side that only worked when one of the elite's life was in real danger, but the poison spreading in his system as well as the fact that his head was in the process of being chopped off made it impossible.

Not ten seconds later Nasumi had cut all the way through Dra'Kos neck, but as had been the case before with the spider demon the head was still alive. Ranma looked down at the defeated demon lord and snorted. "Stop trying to speak, you ain't got nothing to say I wanna hear. Be seeing ya. Not," he said and took to the air, and when he deemed the distance as sufficient the ascended Legendary Super Saiyan flung a yellow-green energy blast – which was double in size in comparison to the 'old' ones – at Dra'Kos' remains.

The resulting explosion created a shockwave of light and pure power, and when the ever-blowing hot winds had blown away the dust a crater several metres deep was revealed with no sign of the defeated demon lord. Ranma nodded to himself and dusted himself off before powering down into basic Legendary Super Saiyan mode. "It's always a good idea not to reveal your full hand," he muttered to himself with a smirk and took off, following the narrow path leading across the plateau before it snaked its way upwards.

-.-

Ranma had no trouble reaching the gate that would lead him to the next and final level of hell below HFIL, and after a quick but very informative chat with another Saiyan, Nasu, he felt ready to invade the final level. Nasu had warned him that every able-bodied demon had been ordered to assemble in the level below HFIL as it held the gate Belial would activate as soon as he has grown strong enough so that the hordes of hell could join their ruler in the mortal realm.

The misplaced Saotome cracked his neck and popped his joints, his right hand gripping Nasumi tighter. A determined expression settled on his face and he looked at Nasu standing to his right, nodding once. The tanned Saiyan with cobalt hair nodded back solemnly. "Good luck, Ranma. Rip their ugly heads off."

'What he said, lordy! Let the foul demon blood flow like a river!' Ranma's resident peanut gallery exclaimed bloodthirstily.

Ranma ignored the voice. "I will, Nasu. Keep it bowling," he retorted and stepped through the red glowing portal that was absolutely identical to the one Papurika had guarded.

A mildly disorienting trip later he was spat out at his destination and found that Nasu had been right. The gate was surrounded by a battalion of demons of a species Ranma hadn't seen before. This particular species stood at round about two metres and had a leanly muscled body with a humanoid appearance.

Broad shoulders, defined pectorals and abs suggested physical strength, and bone spikes of at least twenty centimetres length lined the demon's legs from the kneecap down; the arms were the same, and spikes lined them at intervals of two centimetres from shoulder to wrist. The aura of pure evil surrounding the demons, their blood-red skin colour and their soulless black eyes gave this particular race the air of shock troopers, and Ranma's eyes hardened.

'This is what Earth will face if I fail,' he thought and firmed his jaw before moving so fast that he was no more than a blur.

Nasumi blurred as she cut through flesh and bones, and Ranma found it hard not to give in to the rising bloodlust as he hacked his way through the demons. White-hot balls of fire thrown at him were dodged with ease as were the attempts at hitting him with their dangerous limbs, and a short but bloody battle later the ground surrounding the portal was littered with corpses.

Ranma looked around with a grim expression and exhaled. There were no more enemies in the immediate vicinity, meaning that he had the time to gather his bearings. He scoffed softly. "So much for their tactical skills. I'd never have left just a hundred demons to guard the gate if I'd so many more on hand. Okay, what did Papurika and Nasu say? There to the left are the dark mountains, and were I to follow this path I'd end up at the only known portal from which the king can summon his troops to his side.

"Were I to head North-West it's realistic to assume that I'd be killed if I tried to take on all of 'em demons even with how strong I've become, so I'll place all my eggs in one basket and head North-East through the Dark Forest in hopes of finding the lost portal Papurika told me about. He said only those alive and pure of heart and intent could find and activate it of their own free will to prohibit hell's demons from ever gaining access to HFIL, and that it worked with energies demons could not sense. As a Saiyan, and a living one at that I shouldn't have much trouble finding it, he said. Well, let's test the theory."

Then he was off without looking back, never noticing the scout-demon that had carefully kept itself hidden.

-.-

Ranma had encountered little serious resistance as he had delved deeper into the Dark Forest. A certain species of demon with the black scaly body of a twenty metre long snake and an ugly head dominated by a gaping maw and one big red eye had apparently decided that he'd make for a good snack, and the fact that this breed of demon was able to fly and had two arms ending in three razor-sharp claws would have made it a formidable opponent had he been a regular Super Saiyan. Being anything but he had quickly turned the flying pests into minced meat and had resumed his flight.

He didn't really know which direction to take and had nothing to go by but a strange pull on his senses he presumed might be the lost portal's energy. The fact that the source emitting these energies didn't hold the same taint of evilness to it as everything else around here strongly suggested that he was on track. Beneath him the forest thinned out and gradually led up to a mountainside, and Ranma landed on the blackened ground. "If not here, where else?" he muttered to himself as he examined his surroundings with squinted eyes, "But where?"

Ranma thought he was onto something when he perceived a blurry phenomenon at the edge of his senses, but the sound of flapping wings broke his concentration. He body-flickered to the side out of reflex, and the ground where he'd been standing moments before began to hiss and bubble due to a spit projectile. A hard look appeared on his face as he surveyed his assailant, or rather assailants. They were ten demons in total, and without exception of a race identical to Belial safe for the skin colour that was a navy-blue instead of red.

"Not bad, mortal. The question is, can you do it again against all of us?" the apparent lead demon asked as he and his group continued to hover about three metres above ground and began to laugh, "Before I kill you, you shall at least know the name of your killer. I am Que'Tar, second in command after Lord Belial Himself."

Ranma, having noticed the demons manoeuvring to surround him, looked at Que'Tar with an uncaring expression. "Names don't matter when you're dead," he returned coldly and ascended to the second level of his Legendary stage, the concussive force caused by his power-up blowing away the group of demons in all directions amidst surprised exclamations and curses.

Surrounded by lightning bolts Ranma sped forward leaving a sonic boom in his wake, Nasumi already drawn. His first target, the demon floating to his immediate right, was still trying to overcome his shock at seeing anyone move this fast when Ranma's blade had already cut off his hands at the wrists with two quick slashes before severing his head in a follow-up stroke. The demon hadn't even had time to scream.

Foregoing armed combat for the moment Ranma let his tail wrap around Nasumi and store her in storage space before he fell on the next demon in a flurry of punches and kicks. The demon was barely able to keep up with Ranma's insane speed, and after a headbutt to the face hit home Ranma used the demon's momentary distraction to cup his hands to his side and released his own version of the trademark Kamehameha wave.

The Onyx Wave washed over the offending hell fiend like a tsunami and eradicated him from existence. Ranma ignored the death cry that rang in his ears and whirled around, his face set in stone. Flash-stepping to the left, then to the right and again to the left he easily avoided attacks similar to the one Belial had used on Majin Buu, then he moved forward and reappeared right in front of a startled demon fifty metres away. Not wasting a second he shot a quick roundhouse-kick to the creature's head, connecting with enough force to almost break the creature's neck. The demon was sent plummeting to the ground, but caught himself in time to prevent crashing into the ground.

To the demon's immense surprise Ranma was already standing in front of him with a cold expression on his face, and before the hell fiend knew what was going on a blinding pain erupted from his chest. The demon's eyes widened comically at seeing the gloved fist lodged in his muscled chest and had the time to gurgle weakly before an energy blast fired from Ranma's left hand blasted his head off.

The body had hardly hit the floor with a dull thud when Ranma had already disappeared high into sky, avoiding several fire-based attacks the remaining seven demons had sent his way with ease. Yellow-green energy exploded from his hands and missile-shaped bolts of energy shot towards the closest demons; Que'Tar's lieutenants used their strong wings to swerve to the side but found out to their detriment that the energy attacks were following their moves, and grinning coldly Ranma let the blasts detonate when he felt they were close enough.

Chunks of seared flesh rained to the ground seconds later, and Ranma's grin turned into a cold smirk. "And then there were five," he muttered satisfied and whistled the tune of what he'd dubbed 'ten little demons' on the spot.

A good five-hundred metres away Que'Tar's eyes widened in shock. "I have never seen a mortal so strong and ruthless. His brutality rivals my own!"

"`Rivals´? Is that a challenge?" Ranma asked clearly amused and popped his joints, grinning maniacally.

When Que'Tar's eyes narrowed Ranma had his answer. Upon a nod from hell's number two the four lieutenants attacked him from all sides while their leader made obscure shapes not dissimilar to the ones Dabura had used when he'd fought Gohan. Ranma had no time to watch what Que'Tar was doing as he became preoccupied with the four attacking demons.

Gnashing his teeth he took to the offensive and disappeared, reappearing under the demon's belly that was flying toward him from the front. His red eyes flashed and his right fist lashed out, connecting an extremely hard punch to the gut. Ranma literally buried his fist in the creature's gut, and then nailed the demon with a right hook that sent him flying.

Firing a high-powered ki-blast after the knocked out demon as a going away present and nodding grimly as the demon was blown to pieces Ranma turned around and dodged the flurry of sword-strikes coming from the demons that had flown at him from left and right and used his aura to momentarily blow the attacking demons away.

Whipping out his bow he shot an arrow without even looking and quickly stashed the bow again, resuming the dodging game. The arrow meanwhile hit the demon that had tried to attack him from behind right between the eyes, and due to the arrows' increase in speed on the last ten to twenty metres it pierced the skull and exited at the back of the creatures head.

Ranma's keen hearing perceived the demon's death rattle before his body fell toward the ground, and a smile on his face he fired a ki-blast at the body before reaching for his hammers amidst dodging the increasingly frantic sword strikes. The Saiyan's brows disappeared into the hairline when he felt a huge discharge of energy coming from Que'Tar's position, and well aware that he'd have to dispatch of the two nuisances quickly so as to properly concentrate on the new threat Ranma used all of his new speed and strength to their fullest as he brought up his hammers.

In a flurry of incredibly strong strikes Ranma reduced all four blades to scrap metal so fast that afterimages were left in his wake, and before the demons even knew what was happening they knew no more as their skulls had been bashed in by the instruments of blunt trauma wielded by one Ranma Saotome. Two ki-blasts fired at the bodies ensured that the demons would never get up again.

Behind him the energy build up spiked one more time, and a thundering stomping sound echoed through the vicinity, prompting Ranma to turn around. He just had time to think, 'Oh fuck!' and brought both armoured hands up in reflex more than anything else.

It were that reflex and his monstrous strength that prevented him from becoming Saotome shish kebab as he grabbed onto the cutting edge amidst a spray of golden sparks of what had to be the largest labrys he had ever seen. The huge weapon, Ranma noted amidst pushing as hard as he could, was wielded by a demon that had to be at least twenty metres tall, and Ranma just got a brief glimpse upon its features – which were similar to those of G'Rarg and G'Rurg – before the laws of physics took over.

For although Ranma had managed to stop the axe's blade it didn't mean that the energy behind the swing was stopped, and the Saotome was quickly pushed down into the ground as a consequence. A crater formed beneath him that got deeper and deeper, and Ranma didn't manage to arrest the blade's momentum until he'd been pushed up to the waist into the ground.

When the labrys' movement had finally been arrested Ranma's triumphant gaze wandered to Que'Tar who was hovering behind the large demon he had summoned, and he revelled in the look of utter astonishment Belial's second in command was wearing. His arm and leg muscles briefly quivered in exertion when the huge demon Que'Tar had summoned used all four of his hands in a bid to push the blade down. "Is this the best ya can do?" Ranma asked with a sneer.

The massive demon snarled in rage and pushed harder, making Ranma's muscles strain a bit harder. "Puny mortal, you killed my brothers G'Rarg and G'Rurg! For that you shall die by my hands!"

"So you were hell's three stooges," Ranma exclaimed with a mocking grin. "Well, good riddance to your brothers, you're next."

"DIE!" G'Rerg bellowed enraged and redoubled his efforts.

Que'Tar, hovering behind the giant demon and apparently content to watch for the moment, grinned. "Very good, G'Rerg! Just keep on pushing!

"HA HA HA HA HA! You will run out of steam soon, mortal! Then your end will come!"

"That's what you think, scum! I never run out of steam!" Ranma retorted with a wicked grin and removed his right hand from the cutting edge, just arresting the axe's momentum with his left.

His free hand reached for his belt, and under the disbelieving looks of Que'Tar and G'Rerg Ranma retrieved one of his warhammers. Not hesitating a second he brought the heavy weapon back and let it fly, hitting the flat of the axe's blade with incredible force and a resounding clang. The dense material vibrated for about ten seconds as it tried to absorb the impact forces before spider-web cracks began to spread from the point of impact. Soon the cracks had run all the way through the labrys and chunks of metal or whatever the axe was made of rained to the ground, many of them pointy and sharp.

G'Rerg stumbled backwards and was left with nothing but the wooden handle held in his right hand, and Ranma let his warhammer disappear to storage space and revelled in the twin looks of astonishment and shock before acting in a flash, and before the first piece of metal had actually hit the ground he had caught it and thrown at G'Rerg at high speeds. The same was repeated with the other falling pieces that to Ranma fell to the ground in slow motion, and a few seconds later the giant demon was hit by a veritable hailstorm of deadly scrap metal. Many of the sharp pieces pierced G'Rergs body despite the black leather armour he was wearing, making the demon howl in pain and drop the former axe's handle from numb fingers.

Before either of the demons could react Ranma fired two Masenkos at G'Rerg in quick succession, aimed for his chest. Ranma's aim was true and the signature attack of Gohan pierced the demon's pectorals with no apparent effort. G'Rerg, already severely wounded, stared down at the gaping holes in his chest, blood flowing out of his mouth in rivulets, before he bellowed in agony.

Ranma didn't bat a lash and employed another energy attack he had learned and perfected in his time with Vegeta and Gohan in the Hyperbolic Time chamber, and two destructo disks, both a metre in diameter sped towards G'Rerg in a criss-crossing pattern. The gigantic demon had somewhat fought down his agony from the massive injuries, but he had naught but the time to adopt a deer caught in the headlights look when one golden glowing disc had already sliced him horizontally in half while the other sliced off his head from the left shoulder upward.

G'Rerg's death-cry was cut short when his head separated from his shoulders with one last gurgle, and the demon's body fell to the ground, literally in pieces. Black blood stained the ground as it slowly flowed out from underneath the corpse, giving the blackened earth an even darker colouring.

"And then there was one," Ranma said in a low voice that easily carried over to Que'Tar. "Now to show you just how outclassed you are," the Z-fighter added and began to yell; Ranma's yellow-green torch-like ki-flame appeared around him with thick strands of lightning bolts literally crawling all over his body, and the waves of power emanating from him pushed the wide-eyed Que'Tar further and further away despite the fact that hell's second in command had dug his clawed feet into the ground. The final wave of black energy emanating from Ranma was so strong that it caused Que'Tar to become airborne, and the demon lord had to flap his massive wings repeatedly to regain control.

Ranma, whose display of power had caused Que'Tar to be blown away a good five-hundred metres, smirked darkly. "You have your dead friend Dra'Kos to thank for this," he said and jabbed a thumb at himself, the lightning bolts coursing around him intensifying, "Without his attempts at killing me I'd never be so powerful."

Que'Tar stared and muttered something about 'stupid muscle-bound Vre'Tah with no brains' before recomposing himself. Then he tensed and disappeared, reappearing thirty metres away from Ranma. Two red-glowing balls of hellfire were launched from his claws, but to Ranma the elemental attacks moved in slow motion, and he just raised an eyebrow when the attacks sped up dramatically on the last ten metres, upping their speed to an almost acceptable level from his point of view. He almost casually backhanded both blasts high into the sky first using his right then his left hand and immensely enjoyed the look of shock on Que'Tar's face.

"If that's the extent of your skills you're already dead," Ranma drawled mockingly, a sneer on his face.

"Die!" Que'Tar hissed angrily and spat a continuous stream of hellfire similar to Belial's attack – but a little less powerful – at Ranma.

The Saiyan body-flickered away long before the attack could hit and reappeared in front of Que'Tar, his right fist already cocked back. Belial's second in command had no chance to react when Ranma's massive right fist hit his chin in an uppercut so strong that his jaw broke, and the pain had just registered when another body part, his back, screamed in agony when a double-fisted blow hit with incredible force.

Que'Tar was turned into a navy-blue missile as he was sent face-first to the ground, and a huge cloud of black dust was kicked into the air from his impact. The demon had just staggered to his feet when he felt another sharp pain in the back, and Que'Tar's eyes widened comically before he was catapulted forward with a cry of pain courtesy of the hard kick to the back.

Hell's second in command righted his flight and turned around to find that Ranma was already in front of him, and with a snarl of rage his claws turned into a blur. To Ranma it still seemed like he was moving at average speed, and his lips quirked into a smirk worthy of Vegeta as he began to dodge. He moved his head and body out of the way of Que'Tar's strikes just as needed, making it seem like the demon were missing him by a few measly millimetres in order to get the demon's blood to boil. "Too slow," he said every so often, making Que'Tar hiss in rage.

Ranma grinned inwardly as he continued to test the extent of Que'Tar's abilities as well as his own. Que'Tar was quickly losing it as was evidenced by his increasingly wild and imprecise strikes, and after a few minutes Ranma decided it was time for the demon to grasp that he'd reached the end of his rope. So it came that when Que'Tar tried to punch Ranma's face in he suddenly found his right claw trapped in a vice-like grip, and his left claw holding the sword suffered the same fate before it could come even close to Ranma's face.

The look in Ranma's eyes told the demon lord that it was over, and then the teenage Saiyan applied crushing pressure that was great enough to break Que'Tar's golden sword in his hand, and a lot of bones with it if the demon's cry of pain was any indication. The demon lord was so shocked that his allegedly indestructible sword had been destroyed that he didn't even try to free himself, all he seemed to be capable of was staring wide-eyed and watching the pieces of his sword fall to the ground while cradling his left hand with his right.

Ranma on the other hand didn't even think of remaining idle and threw the hardest punch he had ever thrown. Que'Tar cried out in sheer tortured agony when pain like he had never felt before lanced through his chest, and he looked down to see his enemy's hand had punched through his chest like it was made of tissue paper. Retracting his gloved hand Ranma pulled out his fist with a contemptuous expression, and his eyes briefly strayed from the staggering demon to the bloody spit that had landed on his armour when Que'Tar had cried out. "Hmm, nothing happens. Good."

Que'Tar spat blood and was visibly having trouble remaining on his feet, but Ranma crossed his arms across his chest instead of following up on the opportunity. "I know you'll survive that little wound, but you're no challenge to me any longer. So go join your brethren and tell them to leave me the hell alone, scum. I'm done here," he said coldly and turned around. "Killing you sons of bitches got old, and this is getting boring fast," he muttered with a scowl and began to walk away.

"And where do... you think you're... going, foolish mortal?" the demon hissed as Ranma turned around.

Ranma turned his head and regarded Que'Tar with a scowl. "Away. I have won this fight and could finish you off at any given moment, but I give you the chance to return to your brethren as my messenger 'cause I'm sick and tired of killing you annoying sons of bitches. The message is simple: leave me the fuck alone and live, maybe even become Belial's successor when I kill him, don't and die. So fuckin' take your chance and sod off."

That said Ranma turned around again with intent to examine the strange phenomenon he had sensed before the fight against Que'Tar and his lieutenants had started and began to float upwards. Being so bluntly dismissed as not worthy of his enemy's attention didn't sit well with Que'Tar, and his fury soared to new heights at this slight to his honour.

His wound was quickly closing, and fury fuelling his strength Que'Tar believed that he was not out of the fight yet. "MORTAL! THIS FIGHT ISN'T OVER BEFORE YOU LIE DEAD AND BROKEN AT MY FEET!" he screamed and balled his fists.

Ranma puzzled over Que'Tar's strange behaviour when suddenly he felt something tighten around his feet. He looked down and found to his astonishment that the blackened earth had entrapped his feet and was quickly moving up his body, ensnaring him. "FOOL!" Que'Tar bellowed and laughed mockingly in between hacking coughs, "Every demon of my class has a special ability. Mine is control over earth, and you will never be able to free yourself now! Die!"

Que'Tar had just left his eyes free and Ranma was forced to watch as the demon spat his continuous stream of hellfire at him. The attack was faster than before, but to Ranma it drew nearer still at barely above average speed. His jaw firmed and he brought out his full might with a yell. Black plaster was blown away from his body and rained to the ground, and free of his prison Ranma flash-stepped to the side and immensely enjoyed the disbelieving look on Que'Tar's face. "Never say never again, Que'Tar. And that was strike three. You're out."

Ranma body-flickered forward and quickly made short work of the golems the demon had hastily created, and then he severely pummelled Que'Tar for several minutes until the demon lord could hardly stand upright. Glaring one last time Ranma body-flickered to a position ten metres backwards, and his hands already cupped he unleashed an Onyx Wave of medium intensity that cost him little to no effort. "Endgame," Ranma spat disdainfully and watched the energy attack speed toward Belial's number one.

Que'Tar was caught up in the blast a second later and screamed as his wounds were reopened and many new wounds inflicted upon his body, and shortly after the residual energy from the blast had faded away the demon lord simply collapsed flat on his back, bleeding profusely.

The second-most powerful demon of all hell was in a sorry state with his right horn missing and his right arm and leg almost completely severed; the hole in his chest had reopened, and he moaned piteously. A look of fear appeared in his eyes when he felt a shadow loom over him, and when his scared red eyes met equally red eyes that had an unforgiving look to them Que'Tar had an inkling of what many of his victims must have felt shortly before their last moments.

Panic filled his blackened soul as Ranma raised his sword, and he resorted to something he had scoffed at for as long as he had existed: fleeing from the enemy. Just a second before the sword came crashing down Que'Tar managed to smear blood on a seal on his upper right arm, and then he was gone in a flash of red light, leaving his severed body parts behind.

Ranma stood dumbfounded for a few moments before he began to snarl in anger when he realised that Que'Tar had chickened out instead of taking it like a man, well, demon, his chest heaving from the deep breaths he was taking so as to come down from the battle-high. A look of severe annoyance was on his face and he cursed colourfully. "Run away from me, asshole, will ya?" he grunted and scowled, "Coward."

His scowl deepening he brought out his aura and let his power flare with a primal yell, and a black sphere of concussive force travelled out for kilometres in all directions, signifying his victory. Surrounded by a veritable sea of lightning bolts Ranma stood tall, a grin appearing on his face. "That did me a world of good," he muttered and scowled, "And if what Papurika told me is true then my chance to finish Que'Tar off will come soon enough."

Ranma then reigned in his emotions and gazed rightwards in the direction where he had felt the disturbance, his eyes widening when his keen eyesight picked up on a change; roughly two kilometres away, at the source of the disturbance a mountainside with a large opening that had previously been hidden had appeared. A genuine grin almost split Ranma's face almost in half.

"Jackpot," he whispered and immediately took off, reaching the entrance in a second. "So all it took to find the lost portal was a blast of power," he mused to himself as he surveyed the entrance. "Or not," he added when he felt himself being bathed in golden light.

At first Ranma wanted to resist what he perceived as an assault on his mind, but he desisted when he remembered that this might very well be the test if his intent and heart were pure, and opened himself fully. Ranma's eyes were closed so he missed the golden glow that formed around him that had nothing to do with his own power, and seemingly an eternity later a voice spoke up in his mind, saying three simple words, "You are worthy."

Ranma opened his eyes and started in surprise. The scenery in front of him had changed dramatically from the barren blackened mountain walls and the entrance hewn into it. Where before his eyes hadn't been able to penetrate the darkness permeating the entrance a broad vaulted path made of white marble illuminated by rows of torches affixed to the walls revealed itself to Ranma's astonished eyes.

"It's almost a pity I gotta destroy something so beautiful," he mused with a sigh after admiring the fine work a talented stonemason had to have rendered forty centuries ago, "Sad I ain't got a choice but to bury the portal even deeper than before, but I ain't risking that the likes of Que'Tar get access to HFIL. The poor sods there'd be overrun in seconds."

The teenage Saiyan flash-stepped forward to where he could feel the source of energy that had to be the portal reside, speeding along the snaking path in seconds. His feet slammed into the ground as soon as that which he had searched for came into view, and Ranma carefully studied his new surroundings. The room that held the gateway to HFIL was an austere cave of white marble, approximately twenty square meters in total, the walls reflecting the shine of the blue glowing portal and bathing everything in blue light.

Firming his expression and nodding to himself Ranma walked up to the portal and floated forward until he was directly in front of it. The lightning bolts coursing around his body intensified, and he tossed two of his high-powered energy blasts - which contained enough power each to level a mountain - over his shoulder without looking. A second before the blasts detonated he floated into the portal, and then the misplaced Saiyan teen was yet again subjected to the sensation of riding an inter-dimensional roller coaster.

-.-

Ranma Saotome, recently turned Legendary Super Saiyan and one of the few beings in existence that had fought their way out of hell could literally see light at the end of the tunnel before he was spat out at his destination. The exit was a bit forceful and he flash-stepped a good two-hundred metres forward to be on the safe side in case there were side-effects from him blowing up the other side of the portal. But other than the gateway to hell shuddering and crumbling in on itself nothing happened.

Shrugging to himself Ranma dusted himself off and muttered, "Cool, it worked," and started looking around.

The first thing he noticed was a complete absence of the moans and screams of the damned. This nerve-grating noise had been a constant companion in the lower levels of hell that he had quickly learned to ignore, but the silence reigning here was simply unwonted.

HFIL differed sharply from Belial's hell where the interior design was concerned, for instead of dead, blackened earth and black jagged mountains and pits and air that smelled of sulphur, blood and every bodily excrement imaginable HFIL's air was almost as clean as Earth's, and the landscape resembled a mountain range on Earth.

"Even if the sky's the same orangey-red, that's really a sissy hell," Ranma muttered to himself, "Far better than the likes of Cell, Broly, Frieza and whatnot deserve."

Having mentioned the Z-Fighter's rogue's gallery Ranma had the idea of trying to locate the ki's of the said villains. His right brow rose in slight surprise at the effectiveness of his idea; one ki stood out especially as it had a distinct Saiyan-like feel to it, and Ranma concluded that it had to be Cell.

Suppressing his gigantic ki so as to mask his approach was a tedious task – and he was quite certain that the others had to have sensed his arrival anyway – but he managed and set himself in motion. In an effort not to stand out too much Ranma decided to walk towards where he could feel Cell's and the others ki's, and he deduced from the feel that the villains' life energy had to it that everyone was pretty fired up.

Ranma gnashed his teeth involuntarily when he felt the pathetically weak ki of one Babidi, but a grin spread on his face when he realised that the evil wizard had being here meant that he had been killed by someone. "Hope Gohan or Vegeta blew his head off," he muttered in disgust and continued to walk toward the dead villains in silence for several minutes.

Walking up a hill Ranma stopped when he reached the hilltop so as to analyse the situation. Just like his senses had told him, a large group of villains was congregated in the plane below, his keen eyes easily picking up on the details. The villains – many of whom he knew from the Z-Fighter's files and tales – were huddled in front of a crystal ball nestled in dozens of stalagmites in the middle of a lake of blood, and Ranma noted that many of them looked disgruntled and angry.

Ranma watched Babidi walk away from the other villains after saying that Buu owed all his skills to him, and the teenage Saiyan almost started in surprise when he saw the wizard make punching movements and heard him mutter, "Fuck you, Buu! You looked down on me before you killed me! Kick his sorry ass, Gogeta!"

'Gogeta? Who's that?' Ranma thought with furrowed brows, 'A brother the Prince never told me about?'

Ranma decided to bite the bullet and walked toward the villains – well aware that even their combined might was nothing to him – until he came to a stop behind the Ginyu Force member known as Recoome. Using his size Ranma was easily able to peer into the crystal ball, and his eyes widened in surprise. 'That man... He looks like what'd happen if one were to cross Goku and Vegeta! And he's fucking strong, even as a Super Saiyan 3!' he thought in askance as he watched the man beat a creature that held some resemblance to the rotund pink demon Babidi had unleashed before Belial had made his appearance like a drum.

"He's strong," acknowledged Ranma after a particular vicious exchange of blows that ended with Buu being blown into the ground.

"Can say that again," Recoome agreed and turned around to regard him.

The Ginyu Force member started in surprise when all he saw were armoured and very muscled abs, and he had to look up and up and up to see the newcomer's face. He started in surprise and turned around to look at the crystal ball showing Super Saiyan Three Gogeta lay into Majin Buu and back to Ranma. "Fuck, you're a Saiyan. And... You're alive!"

"Give the man a cigar," Ranma bit out sarcastically, and his eyes narrowed when just about everyone turned around to look at him, "I'm also fuckin' hungry and plain 'n' simple pissed off, so if anyone were to point me to the exit I will take my leave."

"Not so fast," someone Ranma recognised as Cell said with a smirk and calmly made his way to the front, "Even if you don't feel strong, you look it. And it's been a long time since I had myself a healthy snack."

Ranma's eyes narrowed even more, and from one moment to the next he was standing behind Cell with the Android's tail in hand with no apparent movement in between. Strong hands clamped down hard, and before anyone knew what had happened Ranma had planted his right foot in Cell's back and had ripped the tail out. A yell of pain escaped the genetically engineered Android and he staggered forward clutching his rear, and even the slowest of the dead villains comprehended what had happened when they saw Cell's ripped off tail in Ranma's gloved right hand.

Cell turned around and staggered a bit more still while cursing colourfully, watching with fury in his violet eyes as Ranma casually tossed the tail over his shoulder and into the lake. "I have heard of your disgusting eating habits, Cell, so I'll have to decline. And just so you all know what'll happen to the next one to attack me," he hissed, releasing his full might in a tidal wave of power that washed over the assembled villains and HFIL demons alike and made them gasp for breath due to the feeling of immense pressure in the air, "I will kill them. End them permanently."

"Hah! That threat's nothing to us! We're already dead," Frieza spoke up in a sibilant voice, a sneer on his face.

"You can get deader still, little Icejin," Ranma retorted with a wolfish grin, and his grin grew wider when Frieza scowled, "Like in totally erased from existence. Forever."

"He... He's right," a blue-skinned demon wearing glasses and a white muscle-shirt with HFIL written on its front spoke up, "Something upset the spiritual balance. He... He could end your existence permanently. But how... How do you know? It's supposed to be a secret!"

"I know because I killed a lot of demons on the levels below," Ranma retorted with a hard stare.

Murmurs sprang up amongst the group, the fight between Gogeta and Buu almost forgotten. The demon had turned a pale blue. "You... You know?"

"What? That the lower levels of hell are back online? Yes," Ranma replied with his gaze piercing the demon, "I fought my way through them to get here."

Lord Enma's staffer gulped, and then he bravely met Ranma's gaze. "The boss needs to know this immediately!"

"So there's are deeper levels of hell and he," Cell pointed at Ranma, a new tail sprouting from his back with a wet sound, "needs to reach the mortal realm as quickly as possible. What can we conclude from that? That they plan to invade the mortal realm! And if we help them we can get our revenge!"

"Hey! You've just been herded back here after the Janemba incident!" the glasses wearing demon protested, "You-"

He never got to finish what he wanted to say as a yellow-green lance of ki, round about thirty centimetres wide, blasted Cell's head off. "You talk too much," Ranma commented coldly as the headless body collapsed to the ground, its fingers twitching. "Yes, I know you can recover from that. Your healing factor. But you won't recover from this," he added and tossed one of his signature ki-blasts at Cell, unmindful of the other villains who quickly scrambled away to get to safety.

The blast detonated with incredible force and blew several of the villains off their feet and onto the unforgiving ground or into the lake of blood where they resurfaced sputtering. Ranma whereas stood unmoving like a rock with a cold expression in his eyes – an expression he had a little difficulty to keep up seeing as Frieza had ended up in the lake and was now paddling back to the shore like a dog and cursing up a storm – and his arms crossed across his chest. "That's for whatcha wanted to do to Earth, asshole. Best regards from Gohan, and Sayonara."

"You... You eradicated him!" sputtered another of Lord Enma's staffers, this one a red-skinned demon with the same muscle-shirt as his blue-skinned colleague.

Ranma looked over his shoulders to regard the demon and asked coldly, "So what? He was an asshole."

"But- But you don't go around eradicating HFIL inmates! It's just not done!" the demon protested.

Ranma's red eyes drilled into the demon's black orbs. "I learned my lesson to never fool around and to never leave unfinished business the hard way. Cell was a megalomaniacal asshole who tried to destroy Earth, and as you saw, he couldn't leave well enough alone and wanted to stage a riot. And if anyone else is stupid enough to follow in his footsteps I'll end them too," he said matter-of-factly and looked around at the other villains who were still recovering, "Anyone else got a death wish?"

No one wanted to meet his eyes except for Frieza, who had returned to the shore and was glaring at him. Ranma turned around and stared hard at the Icejin. "If I learn that you helped Belial's demons in any way or form I'll come back and show you whatcha look like turned inside out before I spread your component atoms everywhere. Got me?"

Frieza very obviously wanted to give an angry retort, but his father King Cold lay a hand on his son's right arm and shook his head. "As much as I hate to admit it, this Saiyan's a million times stronger than all of us combined and then some, son. I almost fear that he might be the one that this Saiyan legend mentioned, the unstoppable Legendary Super Saiyan. Going up against him, even if allied to those demons he mentioned would be suicide. And I for one prefer to exist, even if it is in this fashion."

Ranma grunted when Frieza showed signs of backing down and refrained from adding a mocking remark à la 'Goes to show who has the family's brain cells'. "Good. The same goes for all of you. Help Belial's demons and your existence ends. Now I have places to be, things to destroy and demons to end," he drawled and turned back around to the blue-skinned demon when the villains, suitably cowed, scuffled back to the crystal ball, presumably to resume watching the fight, "You said you had to tell your boss. Well, let's pay him a visit. Pronto."

"But- But you can't go to Lord Enma!" the demon protested.

Ranma sighed, shook his head and barely stopped himself from palming his face. His red eyes speared the demon who gulped audibly, and the Saiyan pointed up to his head, the demon's nervous gaze following his right index finger. "What do you see? Right, no halo. Meaning, I am still alive, if misplaced. And I have to return to the mortal realm and fast, or you guys will have much bigger problems than a misplaced Saiyan."

The demon sputtered for a few moments before visibly recomposing himself. "Right. Follow me."

-.-

A fast and almost disorienting take of turns later Ranma finally stood in front of Lord Enma's huge desk. The equally huge red-skinned judge of souls seated behind said desk and dressed in his usual attire of a light-blue business suit with red tie and a helmet with two horns stared down at him, his expression disgruntled.

"So you are the one who's making so many waves," he said in a huge voice while scratching his black full beard and looked back at a red folder which he opened and leafed through, "Ranma Saotome, son of Genma and Nodoka Saotome. You became a Saiyan during a dunk in one of the magical springs of Jusenkyo, and it was recently revealed that you became the Legendary Super Saiyan because of it. Caused a lot of upheaval, it did, let me tell you."

"I can imagine... Sir," Ranma replied, an amused glint in his eyes.

"Hmm... We lost track of you after Goku teleported you to Haven."

"Haven. So that's the planet's name," Ranma mused, "Not that I saw much of it, but it seemed nice."

"It is," Lord Enma agreed absently before looking intently at Ranma, "Very beautiful and very magical. It's one of the universe's most beautiful worlds, and it holds a lot of secrets. But it stands to reason that you'll find out about some of them at any rate. For I will help you reach Haven after our chat is over."

Ranma's eyes narrowed. "So you know the pertinent facts," he concluded.

Lord Enma sighed. "That Belial is back and mobilising his armies from Haven? That it'd take too long to inform Kami-sama so that He could dispatch Heavenly Forces – provided they are available in the first place – to drive Belial back?"

"Inform Kami-sama?" interrupted Ranma with a frown, "Doesn't he know?"

"Most likely, yes. But the Almighty is incredibly busy as He doesn't just have to govern this universe, but the Multiverse, meaning an infinite amount of universes. Which is why He created the Kai's as governing bodies to run things long ago. After Belial disappeared Kami-sama briefly returned His attention to our universe and HFIL was split off of the deeper levels of hell," Lord Enma explained. "And after that Kami-sama rescinded His influence and let the Kai deal with problems. I think He was positive that they and heroes like Goku, Gohan and you would be able to keep the peace. And it's my assumption that He chose to let you deal with what became of Belial."

"So that ties into what happened to Belial on Aldebaran, I believe?" Ranma mused.

"You know," Lord Enma exclaimed softly, "Yes, something happened to Belial after a dark wizard managed to summon him to the mortal realm. The most likely theory is that his mind was warped due to the summoning ritual being botched. There should have been safeguards in place to prevent it, but let me phrase it thusly, you can only resist something you want to resist.

"And when he was sealed away by a light wizard who used his own body as a prison this just compounded the problem. Belial would sooner or later break free from his flesh prison, stronger than ever, so Kami-sama found it was time to return His attention to this realm, however briefly. He sealed off the lower seven levels of hell, and I assume He did it to prevent the loyalists from trying anything.

"It limited my options in punishing souls, let me tell you. Where before I could chose from all nine levels of hell I was then limited to two, and these upper two levels have always been something of a joke."

"I could tell, yes," Ranma said dryly.

"Belial cannot be redeemed, and I find it more than likely that Kami-sama started the chain of events that turned you into the first Legendary Super Saiyan who has control over his powers so that you could become strong enough to kill Belial," Lord Enma expounded, "It is more than likely that Kami-sama has foreseen this chain of events and knew that no one else was available to deal with Belial, so it is up to you to end this threat."

"Fine with me," Ranma muttered with his jaw clenched, "I have a few bones to pick with that fucker anyhow."

"Good," Lord Enma said with a nod, "I assume you have picked up on Goku's Instantaneous Movement?" he asked and nodded satisfied upon Ranma's nod, "Very good. Then there's just the small problem that Belial put up a magical barrier around Haven."

"Darn. Bastard wants to be undisturbed, eh? And what do we do now?" Ranma asked.

"I knew it would be necessary and had my staffers search for a ward breaker, but their search has turned up nothing up till now," Lord Enma admitted.

Ranma cursed colourfully until he remembered something and reached into his pocket. "A fellow Saiyan, Papurika, gave this here to me," he said and showed Lord Enma a blood-red stone, "He didn't know what it was other than that it was of importance. Never said how he got his hands on it."

"Kami-sama be blessed. The odds for this to happen... Too low to even consider..." the judge of souls muttered to himself before turning serious eyes on Ranma, "This is a ward-breaker. I have no idea how this Papurika gained possession of it, but I know that I'll pull my weight to do something nice for him once this is all over."

"That'd be great. Now, how do I use this thing?" Ranma inquired intently.

"Just listen to what I say and don't actually do it, or we will lose our only chance," Lord Enma warned seriously with a bit of his temper showing through, prompting Ranma to nod solemnly, "On top of this gem is an indentation. Press your right index finger into it, think hard of your destination and what you want the ward breaker to accomplish. The rest is child's play."

Ranma inspected the gem and easily found the indentation Lord Enma had spoken of. "Okay. Now there's just the problem of actually finding Haven."

"That's not too hard. Use your Instantaneous Movement focus and zoom in on the Sirius sector."

"Sirius sector?" Ranma inquired with a lost expression on his face.

"Oh, I forgot you didn't get to learn the star charts of the universe like Goku did on Yardrat," Lord Enma mused and waved his hand, making a large, translucent map of ten by five metres appear in the air. The map was evenly divided in four large sectors by a dashed red line, North, South, East and West written on each quadrant in red lettering.

Lord Enma waved his hand anew, and East Sector was highlighted, seemingly hovering a few centimetres above the other quadrants. The judge of souls made another gesture, making the other three quadrants disappear; the map then resized itself to show just the East sector in ten by five, and red lettering appeared, depicting the many different sectors like Sirius, Orion, Callista and many more.

Another hand gesture highlighted the Sirius sector, and Lord Enma zoomed in on a system called Enigma Alpha. Ranma counted fourteen planets, and his eyes immediately strayed to the one planet that was highlighted by a red circle. Ranma retraced the path in his mind and nodded.

He then did as Lord Enma had said, closed his eyes and focussed his mind, letting in wander through the East sector until he had found Haven. "Gotcha," he said satisfied and opened his eyes, regarding Lord Enma with a thankful look, "Thanks for everything, especially for making this as unbureaucratic as possible."

"Not a problem, Ranma," the giant judge of souls replied with a friendly look before his brows creased, "I just had the thought that it might be wise not to reveal your full hand to Belial. Him having been on Haven while you fought your way out he has no idea what you are capable of, and when you reveal your ascended Legendary Super Saiyan when you need it the most his surprise will be the greater when you reveal it and use it to kill him. Just a suggestion."

Ranma thought Lord Enma's words over and nodded. "And one I like to practise as well. Never show your enemy your full potential and use his erroneous beliefs about you to defeat him," he mused and powered down to basic Legendary Super Saiyan.

"A wise precaution indeed," the massive judge returned not without self-praise before turning serious, "Now do your job!"

Ranma smiled toothily. "And kicking ass and taking names is such a good job, wouldn't you agree?" he retorted cheekily before disappearing with a pop of displaced air.

Lord Enma actually chuckled. "I like this one. I just hope it'll be a long, loooong time before he returns here to be judged, or else my peace and quiet will definitely be over!"

-.-

Several thousand lightyears away one Ranma Saotome would have sneezed had he not been travelling as a stream of atoms, and when suddenly his feet slammed into solid ground with a abruptness that made his teeth rattle he knew that the ward breaker had done its job. "Here I am, Belial, and I'll rock you like a hurricane. That's a promise."

to be concluded...

Ranma and amnaR: this idea came to me while reading a Naruto manga. amnaR is loosely based on Haruno Sakura's inner persona, only he's a lot nastier and annoying (him being Saiyan after all). As Ranma has defeated him he's largely without consequence and makes it his mission in life to annoy Ranma. Hence why he calls him 'lordy'...

Legendary Super Saiyan Level 2: had it planned this way from the get go. I figured that if the 'normal' Super Saiyan's have stages that can be achieved when there's an overwhelming need for more power why not the Legendary Super Saiyan?

Hell and HFIL: HFIL is practically the (very) watered down and segregated upper two levels of Hell in this story. I haven't seen it done yet and liked the concept.

Ranma vs HFIL: letting Ranma loose on the more arrogant HFIL inmates like Frieza and Cell was fun. Yes, I'm blatantly ignoring Dragonball GT what with killing off Cell, but GT was always more of a fanfic to me than a continuation, so I'm not taking it into account. And to say it with Ranma: Cell's an asshole. Nuff said.