Chapter Thirty-One
Raditz stepped forward on the tiled runway, facing the fourth of the Fortuneteller Baba's fighters. Across the room, Spike the Devil Man awaited his opponent.
'Let me see what's in this boy's heart,' Spike said to himself, piercing into the Saiyan's mind as he slammed his pitchfork to the tile. Dark thoughts. Psychopathic tendencies. This was going to be good.
"I'm going to come at you if you don't come on!" The Saiyan said, his arms crossed boredly. Falling into a stance, Raditz focused his attention on the demon in front of him.
"This is bad," Master Roshi explained from the sidelines, watching as the two titans charged towards one another. He knew his sister tended to exploit those who came to her but he wasn't expecting the Devil Man to be one of her fighters. "Baba usually saves this guy for when she really needs him."
Krillin turned to his mentor, seeing the unrest on the man's face. He turned to see how Raditz was faring, watching as the Saiyan hopped over his opponent's swaying tail and pitchfork attacks.
"What? You think she's trying something?" Krillin asked with a frown on his face. They had been playing by her rules this whole time. "We've been playing fair… I hope she doesn't try a thing. We're here for a good reason."
"Maybe, even my sister's court has crooked seats," The turtle hermit commented, watching Spike's movements. He knew he was going to try to use that move as soon as he found himself on the losing end. "It's that creature that's giving me chills though. Raditz has no idea what he's up against."
"Relax, he's not that tough," Yamcha butt in, watching as Raditz continually pressed towards the winged man, not letting him get the jump on him. "Raditz is tossing him around the ring."
"I know it doesn't look so but like all of my sister's fighters, Spike possesses a deadly secret," Roshi responded. "It's how he's won the World Martial Arts Tournament twice before."
"I always give my opponents the chance to surrender," Spike told Raditz as he blocked another of the Saiyan's blows, a punch to the gut. Flying out of the Saiyan's reach, the devil spoke again. "What do you say?"
"No, thanks," Raditz said, shooting forward. Using his own flying ability, the young Saiyan jumped into the air and slammed his fist into his opponent's cheek. "You're going down."
Weaving out of the way of the creature's pitchfork again, Raditz stepped to the left and brought his leg up, slamming it into Spike's arm. Grimacing as pain shot through his body, the Devil-Man stopped, clutching his arm.
"Lucky shot." He groaned, hitting Raditz with a punch to the face with his free hand.
"Really?" The Saiyan retorted with a smirk as he threw an arm up to block the blow. Throwing a punch that was blocked but not letting up, Raditz felt the wind flow past his ear as he dodged Spike's foot. "And here I was thinking you were just going easy on me."
"You little-" Spike the Devil Man growled. Expelling his ki, the devil stopped fighting. "I'll have you know, I was winning tournaments before you were even thought of. You have quite the nerve, what's your name?"
"Raditz," The Saiyan said, pausing for a second. Immediately pressing forward when his opponent's guard had dropped, Raditz's energy surged as he threw a punch. "This is a fight not a debate."
Using his built up momentum against Raditz, Spike slapped the Saiyan to the floor. Turning to the other side of the room he had entered from where Raditz had slid across to, his eyes widened.
"So, the World Champion fights with dirty moves?" The demon said with a smirk, lunging at the Saiyan and hitting him with a leg sweep. Or so he thought as his foot struck an afterimage of the tailed boy. Staggering back as he took a fist to the face afterwards, Spike spat out some blood. "So you've mastered the afterimage strike as well?"
"Not to put any pressure on you Spike, but you'd better win!" Fortuneteller Baba grumbled on the sidelines. She was down three fighters while Raditz, Krillin and even her brother, Roshi were still kicking. "I don't pay you for your conversation let alone to lose."
"Well the brat's luck is about to run out," Spike grumbled under his breath, flapping his wings and gaining ground on Raditz. "No one can survive the power of the undodgeable Devilmite Beam." He finished as a grin poked at his face.
"Huh?" Raditz grunted as he threw a forearm up, feeling the strong winds being blown around from the Devilman's aura. Almost knocked off his feet, the Saiyan began to hover.
"The most destructive force in the world is negativity," Spike began his monologue, placing both of his fingers to his forehead. "It exists in all living things, created from emotions like fear, jealousy, guilt, anger, hatred! I can manipulate all of that like ki and turn it into beams far stronger than the Kamehameha Wave."
Bending his knees and bringing his hands forward, the demon continued.
"Now my formidable foe, I have you in my sights." He smirked, unleashing the blast spiraling towards the Saiyan as Roshi watched in disbelief from the sidelines.
Roshi gulped as he watched the beam rocket towards his student. This had been the move he had heard so much about. Beams of sweat dripped down his head as he regretted bringing the boys here, especially after what the Saiyan had gone through. Spike was going to use the Devilmite Beam to kill his student with his own thoughts.
Time and time again, he had seen Raditz break through his limits and do the impossible but he doubted he'd make it out of this one. Raising a hand to his robes to remove them, the old master steadied his breathing as he prepared to battle.
Raditz felt electricity crackle through his body as the pink beam struck his body. His heartbeat rose and his hand shot to his chest as every vein in his body began to bulge. 'No,' The Saiyan thought to himself as his thoughts began to overwhelm him. Gohan. Bulma. Bora. Gero. The Saiyan grunted in exhaustion. 'I can't let him win… all of my friends are depending on me.'
Using what little energy he could as he began to fade out of consciousness, Raditz flared his aura. Pointing towards the middle of the three demons he was seeing through his eyes, the Saiyan began redirecting his energy towards Spike. Raditz reflected the pink beam back to the demon as he cleared his mind of his thoughts just as he fell to his knees. Nobody could see what happened as the beam struck the devil, a giant explosion echoing across the room.
When the cloud of smoke faded, Raditz stood on one leg, clutching his entire body with a torn to shreds gi. On the other side of the tiled pathway Spike laid face first in a sea of crimson colored blood, a hole the size of a basketball in his back.
"I-I mastered my negativity long ago through solitude and meditation with my grandfather and then by myself," Raditz explained through pants to the astonished crowd. He saw the eyes of his next opponent, a man in a fox mask, staring at him.
Pushing himself to his feet all while glaring at the masked man with a scowl, he spat up a loogie of blood before continuing. "Imagine a boy left to hold his entire race's legacy by a sadist with the power of Gods. Gohan and Bulma helped me overcome my negativity, I won't let their sacrifices be in vain!" He screamed, flaring his energy to his max.
He looked over to the devil's body, wondering how many other unsuspecting fighters he had killed with the move. Raditz shook his head before kicking the body from the path and to the pool of acid beneath him. The whole time his own negativity had been enough to blow his entire heart up. He'd deserved to die the painful death he had.
"You've improved, Son Raditz," Baba's final warrior said with a smirk that Raditz hadn't thought of in years. He was so proud of the boy and couldn't hold the secret anymore. "I can't wait to test your abilities." Gohan said as he removed the fox mask and revealed himself to his grandson.
Power Levels
Raditz: 500
Devil Man: 420
420 Million (Devilmite Beam)
Masked Man: 500
Author's Note: This has definitely been one of my favorite sagas to write. Let me know if yall prefer the shorter chapters or the more detailed ones!