Chapter XXXVII: Dominick vs. Dalton

"I don't want to fight you, Dalton."

"You should have thought about that before now." Dalton got into a wide stance, put his elbows a couple inches from his waist on either side, bent at ninety degrees with his fists facing forward and upward. He doubled over slightly and bent his knees. Something big was coming. He grit his teeth, and began glowing red from the fire around him. His power began rising faster than ever before as the wind picked up. The ground beneath him began to crack and crumble, and at the same time, the increasing amount of loose rocks began to levitate around him. The wind grew stronger and stronger, and before long, Dominick could feel himself having to fight being blown away. Dalton's power level was going dangerously high. Higher than it had ever gone before. It was several times stronger than his Super Saiyan 4 dragon mode, and he wasn't even using dragon mode. The strain of this powerup was so great, it in turn created a crater in the middle of the desert with Dalton as the center. And his power level did not stop rising.

"Dalton, stop this!" Dominick cried. "You'll kill yourself if you go any further!"

At that comment, Dalton laughed. That laugh turned into a long, extended yell as his hair began flashing golden. "You have no idea of the amount of power I have gained over these last few months." He said. Then, he threw his arms down and his head back and gave one final cry as a blinding golden light shone around him. Dominick shielded his eyes from both the whipping wind and the light.

"No way…" Dominick muttered to himself. "He just became a Super Saiyan 5 as well…"

As the dust cleared, the fact became apparent. It was like Dominick was looking into a mirror. The only difference between the two of them was that Dalton's face was a little rounder, his eyes a little sharper, and his body was more lean.

"This power feels incredible." Dalton said. "I can feel your death within my grasp."

Rightfully so. Dominick thought to himself. This power is much more than a normal Super Saiyan 5 should be sitting at. Is this what he got from the Black Sclera? He may even be stronger than I am without using his dragon mode.

"That may be a good thing for me, though." Dominick said hesitantly. "Now I don't have to worry about holding back." He told himself that, but he also knew that subconsciously, he would stop himself from using his full power. The dream scared him too much.

"Let's begin, then." Dalton concentrated his flames onto his blade.

Dominick reluctantly agreed. His blade gained a light blue goo-like aura that dripped up off of the back side of the sword. He was surprised to see it at first, but he was used to being surprised by things that his sword did.

When he looked back up Dalton was already lunging at him, his sword above his head positioned for a downward slash. Dominick blocked the strike and their swords locked, causing a shockwave from the point of impact. He could feel the heat from Dalton's blade on his face. His brother's teeth gritted harder as he pushed down on him. He really wasn't used to actually using the sword in battle. He mainly used it to concentrate his energy blasts. He forcefully tilted his blade and pushed Dalton's to the side. Dalton used the momentum to do a little spin and come again at Dominick's side. Dominick had no time to block this attack, so he dodged it with a backflip. The younger brother jumped back and the flames on his sword turned purple. Next thing he knew, a green energy blast formed at the tip engulfed in those purple flames. "Galactic Cannonball!" He shouted at the ball launched at his brother. Dominick slashed down and diagonal as hard as he could at the attack, cutting it in half. He lunged forward then twirled his sword once and slashed again from the same angle he had cut the attack with.

As they continued, Dominick was getting more and more used to fighting with the sword. However, he was still always on the defensive. Dalton had the upper hand because he had been consistently using his sword for eight years now, while Dominick had only received a little bit of training when he was younger. Neither of them had the clear advantage in brute strength, which was something Dominick was not used to. For the entire time he had been fighting alongside Dalton, he had the clear edge over his brother when it came to raw power in the base form. Dalton just had access to more forms and more techniques. It became not a battle of strength, but speed. Whoever could bypass the other's defenses would be the winner. In this sense, Dalton had a clear upper hand. The two were exchanging about five or six blows every second., making their blades look like blue and red blurs.

Dalton ducked under one of Dominick's horizontal swings. Before he even came back up, he was already starting his counterattack. It came up diagonally into Dominick's blind spot as his swing turned away from it. It sliced through Dominick's skin just above the knee, but he jumped back in time to minimize the damage. It still drew more blood than he would have liked. It would be a little difficult to lunge off of his right leg, now. So he used his left leg instead. He winded his sword back like he was going to make a swing for the kill, and Dalton prepared to block it. But the sword never came. Instead, Dominick used the windup as a feint and, with his injured leg, kicked his brother in the face. Dalton's body twisted from the impact. Dominick continued his momentum and spun all the way around, extending his sword to attack before he even finished spinning. The sword slashed shallowly across Dalton's back, causing him to shout in pain. The younger brother turned around and glared at his opponent. He came at Dominick with a flurry of slashes. The speed of his attacks was probably closer to eight per second now. It was too fast for Dominick to keep up. He eventually let himself be pushed back in order to keep dodging attacks. However, Dalton was relentless, his rage uncapped. Eventually, he caught Dominick's sword at a bad angle and forced it into the ground. Without hesitating, he reversed the direction of his blade and sliced upward and diagonally, creating a gash in Dominick that ran from one hip to the opposite shoulder. Dalton halted after he got a hit in. Dominick jumped back, clutching what he could of his wound.

"I have this fight won, Dominick." Dalton called out.

"What do you mean?" Dominick retorted. "You're sweating just as much as I am."

Dalton looked at himself. His brother was right. "It doesn't matter." He said. "I will still defeat you."

"I'm not…" Dominick muttered. Then his nostrils flared. "I'M NOT THE ONE WE HAVE TO DEFEAT!"

At that, Dalton started rising into the air. The flames around him started to become more and more intense. "No matter the cost...I have to protect Sakumi."

For the first time since Shihebi, Thirteen showed some sort of genuine emotion on his face. It was a mixture of surprise, fear, and anger. "No way. He can't be doing what I think he's doing. Is he trying to destroy the whole planet?"

Martin got a feeling of dread as he caught on to what Dalton was planning.

Dalton raised his sword completely vertically in the air and all of the flames around him concentrated into his sword. They became more and more intense until Dalton couldn't even see the actual blade any more. He smiled at this. "It's ready." He murmured to himself.

"Interesting." Hotokira said under his breath.

"DALTON, HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?" Dominick screamed. "YOU CAN'T DO THIS, YOU'LL CUT THE WHOLE PLANET IN HALF!"

Dalton ignored him. As he swung his sword down, he said the words, "Jigoku Seppen," and a huge wall of flames as tall as any building in the town next to them fell to the ground, and extended in length toward Dominick.

It's no use, I can't block something like that. Dominick had no choice but to dodge, but the flames were coming at him much faster than he had anticipated. He instinctively put his sword out horizontally, and was able to temporarily stop the flames at his elevation, but found himself being singed from flames above and below him. He tilted his sword to redirect the flames to the right while he rolled to the left out of the way of the attack and watched his make its way away from the city. The wall extended well into the ocean before falling. Dominick escaped without being hurt, but it was more energy he had to spend defending himself. And how was he to take on the Black Sclera after this? Once the smoke cleared, the vast amount of steam coming from the ocean became apparent. Dominick looked below him at the giant crevice on the land that had been formed, and he could see a red glow from the bottom. It was magma.

Dalton wasted no time. He dove down at Dominick and knocked him into the ravine. The two clashed blades as they fell, tumbling and desperately trying to get the upper hand. It got hotter as they went further down. Eventually, Dominick got on top and abruptly stopped his decent. The lava was growing close. The walls seemed to liquefy before his eyes because of the heat.

Dalton held the sword close to his face. "I do well in the heat." He said.

"That doesn't surprise me." Dominick replied.

Dalton lunged at his brother again, but this time from below. Dominick was able to defend against the flurry of attacks. He couldn't tell if it was because he was getting better at using the sword, or if it was because Dalton was growing slower. His mind wasn't helping him in this searing heat. Dominick quickly shot an energy ball out of the tip of his sword, hit Dalton in the left shoulder. Grasping the point of impact with his sword hand, he slyly shot a counterattack back at his brother, hitting him in the abdomen. The force pushed Dominick back a little, and Dalton took this opportunity and rushed at him, shoving his back into the wall. The skin on Dominick's back was practically burned off as he screamed in pain. He had to find a way to get out of this heat. The moment Dalton relieved some of the pressure he was putting on Dominick, the older brother drove his knee into his opponent's chest. Dalton doubled over, and Dominick escaped and flew as fast as he could in the direction of the ocean. He knew Dalton was right behind him, but he just kept flying. Before long, water began raining down on either side of him. Then there was the steam. He just had to keep flying straight. Eventually, he felt water hit his back, then it was dark. He quickly turned around and found that was in an underground cave. The ground was likely hardened lava, but it was too dark to tell. His sword lit up more of the room than he thought it would. He did not have much time to wonder about the cave, though. Dalton appeared through the smoke and did not stop before launching another attack at Dominick. He slashed vertically and Dominick blocked by placing the sword horizontally above his head and reinforcing his with his other hand on the back of the blade. He leaned back and pushed up, causing Dalton to fly over the top of him. He then turned around and rushed at his brother, who stopped himself and did the same. Dominick put two hands on the hilt of his sword and laid down a hard strike at Dalton's sword, intentionally missing his body. He then let go with his right hand and fired another energy blast at his brother. This time, Dalton saw it coming. With his free hand, he hit it downward as hard as he could, sending it barreling through the ground. Its glow disappeared, being replaced by a fiery red one. Knowing what was about to happen, Dalton moved out of the way just in time before geyser of lava shot up from the hole. The cave was extremely unstable. Dalton rushed at Dominick once again and the two clashed blades for what felt like hours, but was only about two minutes. Despite their fatigue, they were both fighting at a much higher level than they were before. It was only at the end of this series of attacks and parries that Dalton was able to land a hit horizontally across Dominick's lower stomach. Dominick grunted in pain as he cupped his hand under the wound and watched as blood spilled into it.

One thing he had noticed during the fight was that the goo-like aura from his sword was shining brighter than Dalton's flames, which confused him. It made him wonder if he could make it shine even brighter. Now that he thought about it, there had been times when a mysterious light blinded his opponents, but didn't seem to affect him much. He didn't have much time to think about this, however. He was too busy fending off Dalton's ferocious, rage-filled attacks. It was almost like they were getting more frantic and sloppy as time went on, because Dominick found he was having an easier time avoiding them. He was also almost sure that Dalton's speed and power were diminishing at a speed far greater than normal in a battle. Dalton came in with a downward diagonal swing, and Dominick parried it. The blades locked, but Dominick's began sliding downward toward the guard. Dalton pulled back when he realized what was happening, but Dominick had seen through this move. Before Dalton could pull out of his brother's attack range, Dominick kicked the bottom of Dalton's wrist, trying to shatter it on impact. He did not know if the impact had broken his wrist or not, but it was enough to knock the sword out of Dalton's hands. "Shit!" He yelled as the sword fell behind him. He instinctively turned around to retrieve his weapon which was a mistake. Once his brother's back was turned on him, he clasped his hands together and brought them both down on Dalton's back, sending him flying into the ground.

Dominick turned around without thinking and flew through the water again, and upwards out of the ravine. The cool air felt more than refreshing. He took a deep breath and calmed his breathing. Finally, he had a little time to rest. He had been moving so fast for the whole fight, and he truly had no idea how long it had gone on for. It had felt like a whole day to him, but it was likely only ten minutes.

Then, his stomach dropped. He heard a deep rumbling coming from within the earth. Somewhere beyond where the crevice ended in the ocean, it seemed like a pit formed, as if the ocean floor had caved in. Then steam began to rise from the pit. The rumbling continued. He looked back at the city to see many buildings wobbling and swaying. The earth was trembling, and then out of nowhere, the pit in the ocean exploded outward, sending a mixture of boiling hot water, lava rock, and red hot magma in every direction. He flew backward toward the shore to avoid being hit by the falling debris. However, the earthquake and the explosion were not what his stomach dropped over.

Dalton had never left the cave before they happened.