A pair of uniformed security guards crossed with one another as their patrolling routes had them meeting up with each other after finishing the lap. The two nodded to one another or just blinked slowly to acknowledge each other's presence but after a while that always got old so they just focused on patrolling the area assigned to them.
There were no questions as to why they were patrolling in the King's Castle in the middle of the night. After all, this was one of those rare times when the King wasn't working overnight which meant that his seat was essentially free. Far too many youngsters tried to sneak into the castle and pretend to take over the world by sitting in his chair. Not to mention the looters that came just to rob the world's most influential and powerful political figure of all the fancy decorations in his place of work. Given how those were the main threats that the handful of security personnel protected the castle from, there weren't too many of them present when one of them went pale and noticed their impending doom.
"W-What's that?" he pointed at a floating figure up above their heads. A smiling humanoid slug of a wrinkled head and skin of a murky shade of green stared down at the castle yard from above. The figure loomed over the castle with its hands wrapped over its chest. Without further warning or explanation of its intentions or nature, the monster took a wild plummet down and landed with a high-pitched tap of its wooden boots.
"Stay back, Mr., this is the King's Castle, you're not allowed to be here after working hours!" one of the security guards raised his weapon. The monstrous slug-man began slowly taking one step after another on the paved road leading toward the castle. Each movement of his leg was purposefully slowed down as if challenging the security guard to open fire.
"What's he doing? We'll shoot him!" the security guard that noticed the floating figure first trembled, still hesitant to aim his gun at the large, green man.
"Whatever, it's his funeral!" the more gung-ho security guard of the pair opened fire. Flares sparked from the tip of his weapon, spitting heated bullets by the handful at the approaching man. Before the bullets even reached the approaching dread, they halted in mid-air and began to furl around him like dust rings formed around some planets, spinning around the approaching green slug-man in a formation of four circles.
"Parbo, bring the rocket launcher!" the security guard that fired the shots turned to his petrified colleague. Seeing the fear and confusion in the eyes of his colleague, the security guard turned to dash for the warehouse himself. All the strongest security guards and most of the heavy weaponry was home. Nobody took a shot at the castle in the middle of the night, most people that wanted the castle hard enough to storm it would have wanted the King dead more than anything.
"S-Stop! Why aren't you stopping?" Parbo, the security guard, finally gathered the gall in him to raise his weapon. In his panic, he didn't evaluate the necessity or the use of a weapon against an enemy that clearly took little to no damage from gunfire but the fact that he met his final moments with a gun in his hand and aimed at the creature that would deliver the doom to him might have inspired more serenity to hearts of some soldiers.
The dreaded Demon King Piccolo walked past poor Parbo, letting the rotating bullets pass right through him without disturbing their cosmic trajectory at all. With a blank expression, Parbo fell to the ground, his upper torso had some trouble maintaining its position atop of the lower half since the rotating bullets buzzed fast enough to shred through him in multiple angles enough times to leave little strings of flesh where Parbo's body crossed over with the trajectory of the bullets.
"Damn it, take this!" the second security guard unleashed his rocket launcher, aiming straight at the strutting demon. The rocket moved at a spiraling trajectory and appeared to raise the dirt and burning blades of grass it tore out from the garden present in the castle yard up to the skies. Before the dust settled down or the smoke cleared out, the haunting taps of the wooden boots made the guard drop the massive tube of steel and projectile explosives to the ground.
A concentrated beam of energy passed through the forehead of the security guard, shedding not a drop of blood but leaving the poor man to collapse on the ground, his consciousness having faded away before it could become aware of its very final moments of existence. Onward did the new King walk, onward to his castle.
The journey from the entryway to his throne seemed like it passed in an instant for the Demon King, each step he took no longer registered in his warped mind, the murder of loathsome humans didn't mean a thing as it once had. Without a doubt, he'd have felt sad about these victims of his conquest had he fused with Kami the right way. Their feelings, their very essences, all that they were would have become one. All the evil in King Piccolo's heart would have become muddled…
"Where is everybody?" the Demon King wondered as he stared ahead through the window. He now regretted not having killed those guards in a more public manner, perhaps he should have blown up the castle or maybe he was better off blowing up the entire Central City? Though if he did, how else would he cement his utter and undisputed dominion over this world?
A pillar of hypersonic boom passed through the King's Castle from roof to the bottom, sending rippling shockwaves at each momentous increment of length until it reached the bottom where it had formed a small crater and ruined not only the garden of the castle yard but also tore up the streets around with cracks for entire blocks.
A flicker of dark colors moved away from the center of the castle that was reduced to rubble now. It took a few moments for the Demon King to rise on his feet and gander at his assailant who without a doubt promised more of a fight than the lowly security he had disposed of before. Even when his guard was completely down, it would have taken a champion of humanity's resistance summed up into one being to as much as scratch him the way he was now.
"Someone as rotten as you can't escape my senses." Chayote stated, watching the Demon King she had just sent crashing down from the public throne room all the way to the bottom of the castle tower.
"Hmph… Another martial artist, huh?" the Demon King smirked. He hated martial artists with all of his being but something about bringing this smug face back down to reality just like he did for those two cocky fools back over the northern regions made him twist his old and dried out lips.
"Another? So you've met Tenshinhan and Yamcha then?" Chayote asked. Before she beat this creature, who looked remarkably similar to Kami, she did want to know what happened to all the Ki signatures she lost track of.
"How would I know? I didn't ask for their names before I've killed them. Humans aren't someone who deserve names, they're cattle. They're slaves to me and they were just sheep to Kami too…" the Demon King spread his hands out, Chayote could feel considerable power flowing through him. This wasn't one of those fights where she could lower her Ki and let the enemy determine how much power wouldn't break them, in this one she truly could have died.
"You two do look alike…" Chayote wondered. "I've planned on killing him once, you know, I wasn't aware back then that there'd be more like him to take his place…"
"Become the guardian? Hmmm…" King Piccolo stroke his chin. "Perhaps that's a fun idea. After all, if that oaf Mr. Popo brings up another guardian, I might be in trouble. Too many weird tricks in that book. Now that Kami is part of me, I have a rough idea of just how many. Yes. There's no use of ruling a world that isn't even aware of its true master. Thanks for this idea, I will be the guardian that protects Earth from new guardians!"
The mad laughter echoed from the side of Demon King Piccolo. This was a laugh of somehow who felt invincible, someone who enjoyed far too much that power they possessed but that was often a sign of that power being a new development. It was more than possible that he was not entirely aware of just how powerful he had become.
"Heh…" Chayote cracked a grin.
"What's so funny?" Demon King Piccolo turned his head with wild, open eyes and proudly baring his fangs at the Saiyan girl.
"This has to be the first time I attack a really powerful guy with skill. Usually, it's the other way around…" Chayote took the moment to enjoy the irony of the situation before entering a fighting stance.
"Attack? Do you intend to attack the Demon King Piccolo? Don't be surprised to find yourself waking up in hell!" the old Demon King didn't even take a fighting stance, choosing instead to take the cocky position of a wide-guard, disguised as a posture of power and confidence. The demon emanated with frightening pressure, his very presence demanded respect, now that Chayote had learned to sense the tide of battle more accurately than just throwing fists at things, she's become aware of all sorts of bothersome things she'd not have bothered her head with earlier.
Chayote's body flickered and disappeared. The Demon King widened his glare, he had never witnessed an opponent with such speed before. By the time he realized that he needed to take this battle more seriously, Chayote's fist was already embedded into the Demon King's cheek, snapping his head aside. He could see it, he could follow it, Chayote noticed his eyes moving together with her, he wasn't skilled yet to fight on this world of power and that gave the Saiyan a few precious moments to exploit that weakness in her opponent.
The second cross met the apt resistance of the Demon King's hand. Something rustled in Chayote's chest, this bastard adapted instantly, one punch and he had mastered why he skipped it, he learned to use his new power and he stopped underestimating Chayote. Just one punch… That was all the quarter she got!
The Demon King pulled Chayote in for an elbow strike of his own Chayote's feet slammed against his chest, stopping her pull and leaving the Demon King open for a push kick that freed Chayote up and stunned the Demon King for a moment. While the old demon stumbled on wobbly legs, Chayote tripped him up from below and then kicked herself off to deliver a divekick and drive the wobbly Demon King to the floor nice and proper. She completed the first engagement with a flip back to gain some distance and time to breathe.
The first round was hers. Still… Against raw power like that, every round might have just been the final one at the same time. She could have pummeled this hard-headed bastard all day only to skip one good blow and lose enough Ki to stand no more chance against him.
Something was wrong! The downed body of the Demon King flickered in transparent colors and faded away as if he had used Afterimage just now. It wasn't quite it, the Demon King was just on another level of speed compared to the opponents she had ever faced. Before she could even blink, the monster had already recovered and moved in from behind her. Chayote stumbled forward to avoid being attacked from behind, her struggle to avoid taking free hits appeared to amuse the Demon King who took a proud stance and laughed out.
"Don't let down your guard now…" he warned Chayote, noting this very moment in which she had nearly lost her head again. "Although, I must commend you. I would have never thought that there were still humans able to damage me in my current state."
"I'm no human. I'm a Saiyan." Chayote replied with a serious face and took her fighting stance to be aware of her opponent's attack if indeed he decided to attack her first.
"Are you? Interesting… I'm not aware of what that is, although… I don't much care. All that matters now is that there are martial artists capable of threatening my sons while they rule the world I leave for them. That is unforgivable. All such beings must be eradicated!" the Demon King clenched his fists by his side. As gusts of wind picked up around the two combatants, evil Ki burst forth from Piccolo and spread outward in vile tendrils.
All that Chayote felt was an electric tingle in her hair. When she tried to move to ease the itch, she realized that she could not move at all. Was this some sort of technique? It must have been similar to Chiaotzu's Psychokinesis ability, the shrimp used to paralyze Goku in the ring too, just like this. This was really lousy, this was too dangerous, she couldn't afford to stand around with an opponent this dire!
King Piccolo shifted again, becoming just a blur before flashing in right up to Chayote. Everything went white for a blink when Chayote became aware of the air rustling her hair and racing through her cheeks, she was airborne already. That impact! She couldn't take many more of those. Taste of blood already made Chayote's senses sharpen, while her mind knew all along the type of danger she was in, the taste of blood in her mouth informed even her subconscious that this was the struggle for her very survival.
Hearing a loud grunt down below, Chayote braced herself for an exchange. As expected, the Demon King delivered himself to Chayote in an instant. He froze in mid-air expecting gravity to claim Chayote and give him the high-ground – the motherlode of all advantages, but Chayote's own flight technique kept her levitating long enough to surprise the Demon King with jabs and kicks that weren't delivered by a falling opponent and didn't come even an inch short.
What was she even doing? Trading blows with that beast? Why? Every punch Chayote threw the Demon King appeared to shrug off, it hurt him, it reached him but it left no impression whatsoever beyond the momentary sting and some inconvenience whereas every impact, even blocked one, felt life-changing to Chayote. Creepy cracks emanated from her limbs when she blocked his blows, the howls from the gusts of his blows she redirected were daunting, like a spaceship or a planetoid zipping past her a billion miles an hour. At that moment Chayote thanked every mentor in martial arts she's studied from: Bora, Korin, Devil Man, every opponent's she's faced and everyone whose battles she's observed. All of them imprinted onto her consciousness and taught their own lessons.
Why was she so afraid before? He was stronger? Who cares… He was faster? Who cares? He seemed pudgy to hit and it didn't feel like hits left any sort of lasting impact? Couldn't have mattered any less. Most importantly of all – this felt like a blast! She was going blow to blow with someone like this guy and every punch she dodged could have blown her brains out through the back of her skull but this was honestly the best time she's ever had on Earth.
There it was, something in this clash had unnerved the Demon King, he hesitated to exploit a few opportunities to strike. Chayote packed her best wallop, putting all of her weight behind it and even flipping over in mid-air while delivering it but it sent the Evil Tribe leader crashing back down. Something that wasn't there distracted Chayote, the city had lit up with lights all around the nearest districts. Their fight didn't go unnoticed, in just mere minutes of the two meeting the city's been head over heels to find out what was going on.
"You wanted the world to know, didn't you?" Chayote landed in front of the kneeling Demon King who gathered strength for another round. "Well, I wouldn't mind kicking the can of some old prune in front of live television myself so don't go around killing everyone – I'm not sharing you with the cameraman."
The Demon King rose to a complete stance, straightened back and all, and looked around at the city that was coming alive. The army vehicles that were rolling in and closing onto the castle yard, the military equipment floating in the air and preparing to bomb the site if needed. For now, everybody stayed back and tried to understand just who was the seaweed-colored slug man fighting with the young woman in the King's Castle yard.
"All around us, nothing but loathsome humans…" King Piccolo declared bitterly. "Clanging their harmless weapons that they would use against my children…"
"You're all about children, can't we have one good fight first?" Chayote tried changing the topic that appeared to be plaguing his mind, just because she didn't like where it was leading the demonic tyrant.
"It's time that these humans know their true overlord, it's time that they know fear, it's time that they know to whom this world shall belong!" the Demon King turned around to face the army of Central City waiting outside the yard walls as well as the posts of military that were placed in each entryway to block off the demon's escape.
"No! Don't waste your Ki on them, I want to fight you at your full power!" Chayote yelled at Piccolo before he raised both of his hands and unleashed all of his pent up fury and desire to be feared like he once was upon the humanity surrounding him in one, compelling explosive energy wave. The golden shine of Piccolo's energy output forced Chayote to cover up her face and dig her feet deep into the ground underneath her. Almost out of instinct her own Ki had formed a protective bubble around her, just enough to withstand the explosive energy wave with minimal damage. Minor burns and damage to the version of Baba's witch cloak she could deal with.
The searing heat from the mass demise of human life persisted in the air for tens of minutes after all was decimated and Central City remained just a dirty, smoldering wasteland without a stone atop of another stone. There were a few residential districts that had managed to survive and looked like they had just been bombed in a raid or something at the very edges of the city. Chayote was a fool to assume that wiping this city clean would have as much as dented the Demon King's Ki. He was glaring back at her before long and his presence was as frightening and authoritative as ever.
"I guess there wasn't anyone as impressive as you amongst these soldiers that protect the humans?" King Piccolo smirked as he took a standing stance with his left side turned to Chayote. It wasn't a serious fighting stance but it was a stance nevertheless. He was done playing around, he was done underestimating her. In his eyes, she was whatever delusional threat to his yet unborn children he saw martial artists as after they killed a bunch of his offspring.
It wasn't like Chayote had absolutely nothing to do with attacking his children anyway. If taking on that hate was a way to prevent sharing this opponent with the rest of the humans, so be it. She'd threaten as many of his non-existing children as needed to feel that high she felt trading blows with him up in the sky earlier. This battle would be so satisfying that she didn't even care if she ended up dying if the universe ended up getting erased…
"Look at what you've gone and done, now you've got your old and rotten body all huffing and puffing." Chayote mocked the Demon King, he had still some things to learn about proper breathing in the middle of a battle but, then again, he was absurdly old so maybe proper fighting didn't matter when one's body was failing anyway. One thing was for certain, Chayote didn't plan on seeing age old enough where she would find that mystery out.