Understanding.
That was the feeling that flooded Erasa now. She looked down at her body, surprised to see that she was immersed in the same red ki she'd seen when she had awoken from the trial of the Chōshinsui. She was confused — but at the same time, she could fathom everything about this new form. The ki, how it worked, she understood it all. Looking behind her as best she could, she saw the orbs floating behind her in its formation.
"So...this is my power?" She murmured. She could feel it; she was stronger. It wasn't like Gohan's Super Saiyan; the bulk of her power wasn't centered in her body. It was in these orbs. These orbs were her ki. And she had a hunch they could do some amazing things.
"What...is that?" Trunks looked at Erasa's new form, blinking. "I can feel her ki...but at the same time, it feels like it hasn't gone up that much."
"And then there's those shiny balls..." Goten pointed at the orbs behind her. "Trunks, this is weird..."
"What's this?" inquired Majin Bū, his dark eyes staring Erasa down with bewilderment. "You've become bright, just like those two brats...but this is different. Am I supposed to be impressed?"
"To be honest, I can't really explain it," shrugged Erasa. "You wouldn't follow it even if I tried — but I do know I stand a chance against you now!" She wasn't bluffing; with this new well of power, she felt truly confident — almost super human.
A vein throbbed in Majin Bū's head; the Djinn didn't appreciate being underestimated, especially not by someone like this. Enraged, Majin Bū roared, and lunged towards Erasa with the full intention of turning the young woman into paste.
It happened in an instant. When Majin Bū rocketed towards her, covered in pink ki, there was a powerful explosion, and a gigantic red orb erased Majin Bū's upper body entirely, leaving only his legs. Erasa had extended a hand, pulling one of the orbs from behind her, expanding it into a great size, and utterly disintegrating a portion of Majin Bū's body.
"Whoa..." she breathed, her onyx eyes taking in this new feat with awe. The orb shrunk back to its proper size, and when she pulled her hand back, it was recalled with her, reclaiming its space in the halo-formation behind her. Instant erasure of Majin Bū's body. Erasa was a loss for words.
"That was..."
"...amazing!"
Goten and Trunks were speaking in unison, almost as if their fusion hadn't worn off; but they were merely amazed at Erasa's reflexes and her swift attack.
Majin Bū's lower body began to twitch, and quickly, his entire missing portions were reformed. His expression wild, veins throbbing, the Djinn let out a powerful roar — within his shout was all of his anger and frustration. Settling down, the rose-coloured demon turned his attention back to Erasa, glaring. "You...little...brat! You're making the same mistake as those boys! You're making me angry!"
Wincing, Erasa replied, "I could tell from that shout. It was so loud!" She adopted her familiar stance again, and when she moved, the orbs adjusted with her. "But just because your feelings are hurt, doesn't mean I'm going to back down! I've trained too hard, and gone through too much, to stop here! Majin Bū, I will beat you!"
"No," replied Bū. "I'm the one who will win! I will smash you — and enjoy it!"
His composure destroyed, the Djinn took off from the ground and Erasa was quick to follow suit. Erasa thrust her fist forward, and for the first time since their battle had begun, Majin Bū felt her strike. Her blow struck true to his face, and he responded in kind with a powerful strike to her stomach. And she felt that. Trying to ignore the winded feeling, Erasa countered with an uppercut punch to Majin Bū's chin. Recovering quickly, Majin Bū responded with a spin kick that sent Erasa flying downward.
Reacting quickly, Erasa utilized one of the orbs behind her, sending it downward and expanding the ki orbs size, flattening it out into a platform that cushioned her fall. Standing back up, she grinned and glared at Majin Bū, the orb beginning assuming its normal shape and place in her halo formation. With the suggestion from her two arms, she removed two orbs from the six, and they floated above her palms — dashing upwards, Erasa thrust one of the spheres forward, slamming into Majin Bū; the orb began to grind, and she thrust the second one forward. To her surprise, Majin Bū blocked the ki orb with one of his own, and the spheres clashed, crackling energy against each other.
When Erasa tried to expand the size of the sphere she'd created, Majin Bū mimicked her almost instantly, and there was a powerful explosion, erupting in a flash of light that rocked the air. Erasa descended rapidly from the explosion in a trail of smoke, shoving it off with the swipe of a hand. "It wasn't exact...but the principle was the same!" She thought, eyeing Majin Bū with trepidation as the explosion fade away. "When he countered my sphere with his own...he's really no average guy!"
The hole Erasa had left in Majin Bū's stomach was beginning to mend, seamlessly patching itself up as if it had never been there. The Djinn grinned. "You're not special; I am. Anything you throw at me, I can send it back. You can't win." Grinning, he opened his maw, stretching it wide like a snake. It crackled with bio-electricity, and it began to emit a pink glow that shone brightly.
Erasa's eyes widened — she could feel the building ki. He was about to unleash a kikōha straight from his mouth! The blast erupted from the Djinn's unlocked jaws, a gigantic wave of pink coloured her vision. The girl braced herself, shifting her will to the orbs that floated behind her, and she was hidden by a gigantic explosion. The beam began to peter out, the colours dying away, and Majin Bū grinned; he'd felt the kikōha connect, so he knew his aim was true.
The smoke, however, cleared to reveal Erasa perfect unharmed; in fact, arms spread, she had erected a barrier. Of six orbs that had been floating behind her body, five were positioned around her body now; one above, one in front, two on either side, and one at the rear. From these orbs, thin rays of ki connected them to each other, and within the lines, what appeared to be glass had formed, creating a sturdy barrier than withstood the entirety of Majin Bū's blast.
Relaxing her arms, the orbs dislodged themselves, and the barrier was broken. They resumed their former place behind her back, forming the complete halo formation of six once more. As they passed by her field of vision, Erasa noticed something about the orbs — they seemed to be shrinking, and she found this alarming. "They're growing smaller..." she thought to herself. "Is this...some sort of timer? But I don't feel weaker."
Unable to kill her with ki, Majin Bū was more than willing to resort to the physical side of combat again. His upper half lurched forward, shooting towards Erasa like a pink snake. The girl felt she needed to conserve the orbs behind her back — only one was retaining its original size — and was forced to oblige the Djinn in physical combat.
As Goten and Trunks watched from the sidelines, Goten picked up on something ever so slightly sooner than Trunks did. Observing the exchange of blows between the two opponents as they rose into the air — fists slammed into faces, knees slamming into ribs, blows parried with open palms — Goten noticed Erasa's ki dropping. "Trunks, isn't it really weird?" The boy pointed out. "I can feel her ki, but at the same time, I can feel a seperate ki...and it feels like its going down!"
"I know what you mean," replied the eight-year old. "Her ki feels...dis...dis..." He stumbled over the word, trying to find one that fit. For the son of a genius, time around his father might not have been best for his mental acuity. "Displaced!" He slapped his fist to his palm. "Like she's got two different sets of it! And the second set is going down quicker than the ki we feel from her!"
"If she's going to lose...then we have to help!" decided Goten. "We can't just watch!"
"But we can't fuse right now," replied Trunks. The Fusion technique they'd been using had one primary weakness besides its duration limit — and it was one that Goku hadn't explained to them before he left. As the boys had discovered during their stay here in the Room of Spirit and Time, while two people could only stay fused for a half hour, they were unable to fuse again until an entire hour had passed. "Which means we're sitting ducks until the timer runs out!"
Goten grit his teeth; there had to be something they could do.
As they continued to clash, it was clear Erasa was losing ground in a straight physical battle; her new form had bolstered her physical capabilities to be sure, but she was still far from equaling the Djinn. The girl parried an incoming punch, only to find herself unable to block the next blow fast enough — a solid snap kick to the chin. Having successfully stunned her, Bū followed up by knocking Erasa downwards toward the pristine floor of the room. The Djinn grinned, obviously enjoying the fight in a schadenfreude manner.
Spiraling downward, Erasa was still in control of her own situation, if nothing else, and used one of the orbs to make another platform that cushioned her fall, preventing unnecessary impact damage. Wiping blood from the corner of her mouth, her narrow black eyes winced. "He's tough...way too tough..." She thought to herself. "I was doing fine when I was relying on these orbs...but I can feel them wasting away every time I use them. So if I'm going to make use of these six anymore, I'll have to try and hit him. No.I willhit him!"
Formulating a plan in her head with haste, Erasa braced herself. "It's do or die time — probably shouldn't think about the "die" bit." Taking a stance to compose herself, she took a deep breath. She'd only have the one chance. Launching forward, the girl broke into a dash, abandoning the Air Dance Technique in exchange for high speed running — easier to control, and didn't squander ki.
Majin Bū grinned. In his mind, if she was using a full frontal attack like this, the girl was obviously losing her edge. As she neared him, the Djinn responded with a powerful punch, but blinked in surprised when his hand phased through a holographic, flickering copy of Erasa. The Zanzōken. "Where is she!?" Bū snarled, and using his eyes, he looked in two different directions at once, combing the area — a horrific image to be sure.
But Erasa was no fool; when she'd created her doppelgänger, she'd moved back at an incredible speed; blending into her doppelgänger's image perfectly, and rushed forward while Bū was distracted. With one of the orbs clenched in her palm, she used it as a blunt weapon to send the Djinn flying, and raised it above her head, expanding its size into a massive kikōdan. The girl thrust it forward, sending the massive orb flying towards Majin Bū.
The Djinn composed himself rather quickly, and raised himself into a standing position with all the ease of a demonic creature. "You're only prolonging your death!" He snarled, raising a hand to stop the sphere.
Erasa raised two fingers, and began to make quick slashing motions; her energy sphere responded, splitting from a gigantic orb into multiple smaller ones — an attack Majin Bū couldn't block with just a simple raised hand. "It's usually quality over quantity...but I'm breaking that rule!"The individual spheres bombarded Majin Bū with great force, exploding in dozens of miniature bombs, and when the explosions died away, the orb did not recompose and return to Erasa. "These really areon a timer...the more I seem to use them, the weaker they get — but that was a success!"
Or so she had thought. A deafening roar of rage filled the Room of Spirit and Time, and Majin Bū emitted a powerful shockwave of pink ki, scattering the remaining explosions and smoke away. The eruption of ki from his person rushed towards Erasa, and she quickly manipulated three orbs, linking them to form a powerful triangular barrier; the surface proved impenetrable once again, and the wave collided with the barrier, passing over Erasa and leaving her unharmed. The three orbs returned to her back, rejoining the remaining two.
"He's starting to get angry," she thought to herself, sweat beading down her skull.
Angry was perhaps an understatement. Majin Bū's entire body was pulsing, veins throbbing all over, and steam issuing from the various holes that dotted his being. He was grinding his teeth, even as his wounds were healed. His stamina had been replenished, and all traces of his wounds were removed, while Erasa was starting to feel the drag — but if she'd hurt anything, it had been his pride. And she could use this to her advantage.
"You fell for such a cheap trick, didn't you?" She shot at him. "Hiding in the shadow of my Zanzōken — and you couldn't even see through it. You're not a very scary monster after all, are you? Doesn't a fighter's intelligence add to their total strength? So you're not too strong after all, are you?" She chuckled wryly, feeling the aches from her fight with him down to her bones; if only her goading was true, she'd be on her way out of the Room right now.
"You...you think you're clever!?" snarled the pink demon, his rage beginning to boil. "No one mocks me! I'll crush you!" Giving into rage, Majin Bū rushed forward, barreling toward Erasa like a man possessed. His arms pulsing with power, he swung it down in an arc, but was met with confusion again when the same flickering Zanzōken was in her place. Angered still further, Majin Bū punched through the figure, expecting Erasa to attempt the same manoeuvre, but was met with air. Turning, Majin Bū behind him, only to see yet another flickering image, and soon realised that the real Erasa was nowhere near him — there were at least ten flickering afterimages, cornering him like a pack of wolves. A remarkable Ten-Fold Zanzōken.
"You think you're smart...but I know where you're hiding!" Bū looked upwards, craning his neck at an impossible angle to do so, and saw the real Erasa descending towards him, two spheres in hand. With his malleable body, the Djinn slithered out of harm's way, and Erasa was forced to come to an abrupt halt, forcing her arms backwards to prevent slamming the spheres into the ground and wasting them. She missed her timing on one, and the orb exploded beneath her; to her relief, she was able to save the others, and it returned to its position in the halo. Four orbs left.
"You...that was a Ten-Fold Zanzōken!" She looked at Majin Bū with wide-eyes. "How could you have seen through it!?"
"You think I'm stupid, but I'm not," replied Majin Bū, tapping his forehead with his index finger. "Those spheres behind you give you away."
It took Erasa a moment to understand what he was saying, but then it him her — the Zanzōken only created a flickering afterimage of her physical body. The orbs were ki, and weren't replicated by the high-speed movement. "Which means I overdid my attempt at stealth by creating way too many of them...and he saw right through it!"
"That move won't work on me again," gloated Majin Bū.
"He's right...but at this point, I can't risk squandering these orbs. I need to make sure that they can hit...and with a frontal attack, he'll see it coming!" To make matters worse, she didn't want to try goading Majin Bū now; she knew he'd be quick to anger, and would still rush in, but without a way to avoid him, it would be suicide. Clenching her fists, she grimaced, "How am I getting out of this one?"
Her answer, surprisingly, came in the form of an explosion hitting Bū; two streaks of light, yellow and blue, had come from the direction of Goten and Trunks. Erasa looked over to see the boys in attack stances; Goten's Kamehameha and Trunks' Victory Cannon. "Boys...!"
"We're gonna help!" shouted Goten. "I can't just stand here and watch this!"
Erasa didn't like the idea of sending the boys back into the fray, but she had to admit, she needed something to keep Bū occupied just long enough. "Can you two keep him occupied!? I just need a minute!"
"You don't know how much we were kicking his butt earlier," grinned Trunks audaciously. The two boys transformed into Super Saiyan — as much as Goten could muster after being exhausted by the fusion — and rushed forward. Bū turned on his heels, snarling in rage. "You two again! I should have killed you while I had the chance!"
"It's not our fault you can't do anything right," replied Goten, narrowly dodging Bū with a Zanzōken, appearing above Bū and releasing a rapid fire barrage of continuous kikōha. The ground was pelted with ki, creating a multitude of explosions. Trunks was quick to join his friend, releasing an addition set of kikōha blasts. With so much destructive energy, the two were creating a brilliant light show.
Erasa knew it was time to contribute; grabbing one of the orbs at her back, she focused and released a powerful Makōsen — now red in colour — from the orb towards Majin Bū. This orb disappeared, and she then gripped two more orbs, holding them at her sides and beginning to funnel the ki through them, causing them to rotate at high speeds.
In a violent shockwave, Majin Bū disrupted the flow of the continuous kikōha, shocking the boys. Glaring at them, Majin Bū rushed upward, and his first blow struck Trunks, sending waves of pain through the boy's body. Gripping him by the neck, he extended his limb, running Trunks into the ground. Goten made a quick dash for the ground, before whirling around entirely and slamming his body into Majin Bū's back, stunning him and causing him to release Trunks.
"You...brats..." Majin Bū turned to glare at Goten. "You're making a mistake!" His antennae turned towards Goten, releasing a thin beam of ki towards him. Goten felt a chill down his spine and dodged immediately, before returning the favour with a kikōha directly to the Djinn's face. Trunks rushed the Djinn from behind, and Goten charged in from the front. Attacking in unison, the boys struck at Majin Bū, but the rose-hued demon dodged them effortlessly. Unlike with their fused Super Saiyan 2 form, there was no power behind their strikes that Majin Bū could not avoid.
But the "minute" that Erasa needed had concluded.
"Boys! Blind him and move!" She shouted, and Goten and Trunks released a kikōha each directly into his face, piercing the Djinn's eyes.
At her sides, Erasa raised two massively rotating spheres of ki; they were two of the three remaining orbs she had left, and only one floated at her back now. The two above her palms were condensed ki rotating in like a contained storm, and the spheres possessed blades that spiraled at the edges. Thrusting both energy spheres forward, they covered the distance between her and Majin Bū in no time, and both spheres slammed into the blind Djinn with surprising force. Both of the spheres exploded, volatile as they were, and Goten and Trunks were knocked far back by their powerful force. Even as the light would blind most people, Erasa squinted through it, drawing the final sphere from her back and between her palms. She could still feel Bū's ki, even in the middle of the chaos she'd created.
"Ka...Me..." With the final orb, the only one that hadn't been reduced in size, she began to charge the signature technique of the Turtle School. She was bathed in red light as ki emanated from the orb. "Ha...Me..." With this, she would erase Majin Bū entirely. A glint in her eye, she pushed her arms forward. "HAAAAAAAAAAAA!" A massive beam of red ki was unleashed from the orb, traveling quickly towards Majin Bū. It encompassed the explosion of her two spheres, and traveled past that still farther. And then it all died down as quickly as it had begun...
Erasa lowered her hands, and looked behind her. Every orb had been depleted, and yet her form didn't fade away; regardless, those orbs had been her advantage. If she hadn't succeeded in killing Bū with that combination, she was finished. But from within the dying explosion, the familiar voice of Majin Bū emerged.
"So was that everything?"
In horror, Erasa witnessed the final vestiges of her attack fade away, and Majin Bū had been reduced to nothing but a floating head within a barrier — as opposed to her geometric barrier, this one was merely a flickering green sphere; but it was obviously strong enough to completely withstand her Super Kamehameha. The red-haired girl shuddered, as the barrier faded away and Majin Bū began to reform.
"I'll admit, you almost killed me with that," Bū grinned, as his torso restored itself, followed by legs and feet. "But it looks like you're all out of firepower, aren't you?" Dusting himself off, the Djinn moved his head from side to side, which was followed by an impossible cracking noise. "I was promised a strong fighter...but all I've gotten so far is disappointment and irritation. All three of you...are just so weak."
"How...can he just come back from that?" Trunks stammered, feeling himself shake.
"We threw everything at him," Goten added, and unable to do anything more than tremble. "Why are we so powerless!?"
Erasa didn't want to give up, but the boys were only saying what she was thinking. She'd exhausted her options; she was still brimming with ki, even if her body was wounded from the physical skirmishes, but those orbs behind her back had been her advantage in this fight. Without them, Majin Bū outclassed her in every regard. "We could try and fight...and die together," she said lamely, causing the boys to gasp.
"You're a valiant triad," Majin Bū said, making good use of the speaking skills he'd copied from Piccolo. "But the charade ends here! I'll blow you all away!" Majin Bū took a stance, cupping his hands to his side — the trademark position of the Kamehameha. "Stop me if you've heard this one before. Ka...Me..." Between his palms, a pink sphere began to form, and the Djinn was bathed in the same bright pink light. "Ha...Me..."
"Goten, Trunks, I'll keep you safe! Just stand behind me!" Erasa ordered, and rushed to the fore of the boys. Quickly cupping her hands to her sides, she was ready to respond to Bū's attack with her own Kamehameha — it might not overpower his, but she had to keep them all alive.
It was at that moment when each and every person present felt a massive shift in the air; a powerful ki, and it was attracting the attention of every combatant in the Room of Spirit and Time. It was a remarkably huge ki, to be felt so clearly within the Room, even with the door open as wide as it was. Majin Bū, who had been intent on killing everyone mere seconds prior, let the Kamehameha peter out, and stood tall again. He looked towards the open door, grinning.
"That ki..." Trunks groaned. "Why is one bad thing happening after another!?"
"It's so huge..." Goten marveled, before becoming suitably taken aback; if there was a large ki on the outside that could be so clearly felt within the Room, that could be a bad thing.
Erasa could feel the ki as well, and was the first to notice that it was growing closer. And if it was a ki that huge, there were only two possibilities — the horrifyingly unlikely possibility that there was a second Majin Bū on Earth who was rushing towards them like a man possessed, or the better alternative; the incoming ki was Gohan. She was unable to voice her hypothesis to the boys, before a silhouette appeared against the lightened doorway, and the ki signal they'd been sensing filled their awareness.
"I almost didn't think I'd make it in time," came a voice that was all too familiar to the three fighters. "But it looks like you're all alive!" The voice was filled with relief, and it soon became clear who had walked into the Room.
"It's my brother, you guys! It's Gohan!" Goten cheered, as Gohan stepped over the threshold of the Room of Spirit and Time — and he closed the door behind him. His appearance was different than anyone remembered; he wasn't more muscular, but he was more solidly built. His gi had also changed; the young man was now wearing consisted of a dark purple top, worn over a blue, long-sleeved undershirt. The gi pants were the same purple colour as the top, and he wore white boots, and his outfit was tied in the middle with a red obi. Dangling from Gohan's ears were two green earrings, the same kind that Erasa remembered seeing Shin and Kibito wear.
"It's really Gohan...!" Erasa's face broke into a warm smile as she took in his appearance. His clothes weren't the only thing that had changed; his eyes and face were sharper, and he was carrying himself differently.
Gohan crossed the distance of the Room of Spirit and Time with ease, passing by Majin Bū without looking at him. He seemed to materialize by Erasa, and wrapped his arms around her. "I'm so glad to see you again — when I woke up from drinking the Chōshinsui, I couldn't find you anywhere, and Master Karin told me you'd gone off to fight Majin Bū. But you're safe — and you've become so strong now!"
Erasa's smile became, if possible, even wider, though she couldn't fight a small blush from Gohan's embrace as she reciprocated. "I'm just glad we both made it through alright. I knew you'd follow me. But look at you!" Breaking apart, she assessed him. "What's with the new threads? And the jewelry?"
"Gifts from Lord Kaiōshin," replied Gohan. "New gi and the special Potara that he wears. I see you've gotten a similar reward," he gestured to her outfit. "But that's not everything." Rummaging in the obi, he pulled out a small satchel. "Gifts from Master Karin!" Pouring out three Senzu, Gohan divvied them out to Erasa, Goten, and Trunks, the latter of whom he turned to. Placing a hand on their heads, he smiled. "You kids did well; I know how hard you fought, and Dad and Vegeta would be proud of you!"
"T-Thanks," Trunks replied awkwardly.
"Gohan! He killed Mom!" Goten gestured angrily towards Majin Bū, and for the first time since he'd entered the Room, Gohan's face became stony.
"I know. Bulma told me when I arrived at the Palace." Turning his back on them, he added. "Eat those Senzu, but please, stay back. I'm going to defeat him now." Walking forward, disregarding even the slightest protest, Gohan came face to face with the grinning form of Majin Bū.
"Here you are," breathed Majin Bū. "While I wasted time on these three, my strong fighter was hiding. So, hotshot, you want to fight Majin Bū?"
"Fight you?" repeated Gohan. "No. I'm going to kill you."
A/N: Whoo BOY! This chapter. Just...this chapter. I had a LOT of fun writing this. But before I go in, let me just say thank you to the majority of my reviewers last week; I was surprised to see that I didn't get a lot of backlash in the last chapter for the transformation revealed at the end. You all don't know how nervous I was to post a revolutionary moment like that for the Earthlings. The first time an Earthling has ever acquired a transformation — but what does it mean? Some of Erasa's new form comes to light in this chapter, but I can't explain everything here; there's more to come later, you'll see, so make your own assumptions for now based on what I've put in the chapter. Regardless, thank you to everyone who stayed despite that, I hope you enjoy this chapter and what it contains — to the people who didn't care for it, I hope you enjoyed the story up to this point at the least. Also, and this is in regards to "0 Jordinio 0", and anyone who has a similar train of thought — Dragon Ball has grown past the time where power can be measured by numbers. Toriyama stopped with that farce at the beginning of the Androids Arc; furthermore, the notion of measuring combat strength in Dragon Ball is ridiculous. Notice how, from the moment they were introduced in the series to the moment they were dropped, measuring power through combat strength was incredibly unreliable. To quote Kanzenshū, "The entire point of introducing them was to show how unreliable and meaningless they were". Relying on numbers to calculate someone's battle strength will only get you burned — as the villains of the series and anyone in the fandom with that frame of mind will find out. I believe Team Four Star put it best: "POWER LEVELS ARE BULLSHIT!".
Moving on, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. It was longer than the rest, and a lot of Erasa's abilities in her new form are nods to different abilities from different series — namely Naruto and Flame of Recca. Her form itself, as some people correctly guessed, is based on the "Six Paths Senjutsu" and "Six Paths Sage Mode" used by Madara Uchiha, Obito Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki, and probably about 90% of recently OCs in the Naruto fandom. There were also some obvious Rasengan shout-outs. However, her barrier, the giant orb that splits into smaller orbs, and the ability to fire beams from those orbs she uses are based on Rekka's Karyū (the Eight Flame Dragons) — specifically Madoka, Nadare, and Kokū.
Gohan's arrival. Whoo boy. Yes, his gi is based off of Black's; I will explain why in the next chapter, so hold tight, okay? As always, let's thank Demod20 for proofreading my chapter! I'll see you all soon in the next exciting chapter of the Erased Chronicles!