A/N: So, the library seems to have fixed its firewall issues, as I can now access FFNet again. Sorry for the delay, folks.
Chapter Fifty-nine - Blood and Darkness
Makai, Mazoku Plane, World of the Mazoku
Bardock looked around him as the world came back into view again. Dabura had just teleported the three of them to the Mazoku plane and he was curious about its appearance. It wasn't quite what he'd expected. Somehow he'd thought the place from which the Mazoku ruled would be dark, intimidating, and evil looking. What he found instead was a large open field with a stream near-by and small wispy clouds in a blue sky. It was almost like being back on Earth.
"That's the palace." Dabura said, nodding toward a large black spire in the distance ahead of them. "I can already sense Quietus waiting within, though his power is greatly suppressed at the moment."
Bardock turned his attention that way and soon sensed the power in question as well. It was just over his own Super Sai-jin level. He could also sense a large number of other, smaller, powers in the area. Only a few of them even compared to him at base, most were even lower than that, but there were several thousand of them. There was also one power he recognized as one of the three Supreme Mazoku they'd encountered upon arrival in Makai.
Still, it was the power of Quietus that drew his focus. /This is more like what I expected from the Mazoku./ he thought, feeling the level of evil within the energy. It was darker then Cell's, and far more so than Dabura or Nefaria, though it wasn't as dark as Janemba's had been. /I wonder why that is? You would think the rulers of Makai would be the most evil beings that could exist, but Cell, Quietus, and Janemba all have them beat there./
He pushed that aside for the moment, there were more pressing matters at hand. "So, where am I supposed to get the energy for the Spirit Bomb?" he asked. "I can already feel that there isn't much ambient pure energy around here."
"No, there wouldn't be on this plane." said Dabura. "As it is our home it has the highest concentration of evil energy in the entire realm. Not as concentrated as that of Hell in Shinkai, the Kais are idiots when it comes to dealing with the balance of good and evil, but still more so than the H.F.I.L. has. You will need to tap into the powers located in Purgatory and the Dead Zone to create your attack with."
"Seriously? That's a long way off, I'm not even sure I can make contact down there, and even if I can it would take ages for the power to make the transit."
"We can aid in that." said Nefaria. "This is my Plane, my powers are at their greatest here. And Dabura commands the power of the entire Realm. We can create a direct link between this Plane and the lower two that you can use to draw the energy through."
"Alright then. You set that up and I'll head up and get started. I'm not sure how strong this Quietus guy is, though, so I don't know how much power we'll need."
"Don't worry, he'll need to use his full power to fight me." said Dabura. "Just be sure to give us a sign to get out of the way before you attack."
Bardock grinned. "Worried I'll agree with those in Purgatory and the Dead Zone that they'd be better off without you?"
"Something like that."
"Well, I do, to an extent. But I also understand the need for your existence. The Supreme Kai explained a little about the balance of the Realms when we were on our way to meet you. Taking you guys out would just make things worse, so don't worry. From what the Supreme Kai has said things are bad enough already. Anyway, as for a signal, you know what my ki feels like, it's quite different from yours or that of the Demons around here. Think you can keep a focus on it during your battle, even with it suppressed?"
"Nefaria and I are at our best here." Dabura said. "We can track you with little trouble."
"Alright then, I'll pulse my ki when the attack is ready. Keep a look out for it."
Dabura nodded, satisfied, as he pressed his hands together and closed his eyes. A faint glow of red formed around him for a moment, then moved to just surround his hands. Opening his eyes again he moved his hands apart and a small ball of red light formed between them. Bardock could tell it wasn't ki, there was no energy from it. The Mazoku King shifted his hands then and held the light out toward the Sai-jin.
"Once you touch it and absorb it this magic will link you to the lower realms for about an hour." he said. "That should be enough time for you to make your attack."
"Might be cutting it a little close." Bardock said, reaching out and touching the light. The red light flashed and vanished as soon as he made contact, and he felt a weird warmth flow through him and settle somewhere in the back of his mind. "It took Goku and I nearly a half hour to charge the one we used on Janemba, and it wasn't even finished yet. Still, if this link works as well as you say it might go faster. Just don't get yourselves killed before then." With that he lifted into the air and flew up into the sky, quickly going out of sight.
"In all of my millions of years of existence I never imagined such a situation as this might occur." Dabura said as he lost sight of the Sai-jin. "The Mazoku, relying on a Shinkai Mortal to save Makai."
Nefaria grinned. "They say there's a first time for everything."
Dabura snorted. "Well, let's get to work." he said, lifting off and flying toward the distant spire. "We need to keep Quietus, Neikan, and Aku occupied so they don't notice the attack forming. Something with enough power to kill Quietus would be easily noticed if they're not focused on a fight. Do you think you can handle Neikan and Aku?"
Nefaria frowned as she flew along side Dabura. "Maybe." she said at last. Aku and Neikan were the two strongest Supreme Mazoku, far stronger than she was. "Fighting here in my Plane will help even things out a little. But it's not just their power that will be a problem, they've got a lot more experience than I do as well."
"You don't need to defeat them." Dabura said. "Just keep them busy, and stay alive until the Sai-jin kills Quietus." The two of them pulled to a stop a moment later, only a hundred yards from the palace. Quietus and the two Supreme Mazoku were already floating there waiting for them. "You should have stayed in the Blood Crystal. You'd have lived longer."
Quietus smirked. "You think you can kill me?" he asked. "If you had gotten that much stronger in the last two thousand years you wouldn't have tried to stop my release, or ran away when you failed. Though I have to say, your sudden return to confront me is unexpected. And you seem to have lost these Mortals I heard about."
"They're not lost." Dabura said. "Just busy dealing with other matters. Even you should be able to sense what's occurring in Limbo right now." He was still tracking the powers there as well, and just a moment ago he'd felt the third mortal's power shoot up over that of Malchio's. Likely he was fighting the three Demons there, the strongest of those Quietus had created for his army, to try and rescue the other captured Mortal.
Quietus frowned at him for a moment, and then his eyes widened in surprise. "Those can't be Mortals!"
Neikan and Aku had also sensed them out and were now scowling. "I could kill them." Neikan said. "Even as powerful as they are they are no match for me."
Quietus pursed his lips for a moment, glancing at the two before him, then shook his head. "No." he said. "Leave the Mortals they brought here alone for now. The Kais would not leave Shinkai unprotected, it is likely there is more than one Supreme Kai now. Or perhaps other Mortals of a similar level. Either way, they must be dealt with quickly. Those here are no threat, but those still in Shinkai might be. Neikan, head to the other Realm and wipe out any resistance that's left. Mortal or Kai, I don't care, kill them all."
Neikan grinned. "With pleasure." he said, vanishing.
"Meanwhile, Aku, you deal with Nefaria."
XXX
Makai, Dead Zone, The Path Between Realms
Daikirai pulled to a stop a few feet away from the path between realms and frowned. He couldn't figure why Dabura and Nefaria were back, or why those two Shinkai fighters were with them. That they were doing some sort of counter offensive was obvious, what they expected to achieve with it was not. That those two mortals were beyond anything he'd ever fathomed mortals could reach was quite obvious. But they weren't that impressive in the grand scheme of things. They were stronger than the weakling Nefaria, but no match for anyone else. Especially not Quietus.
"So, why bring them?" he mused, turning around to look back toward where the entrance to Black Skull Path could be found. It was a long ways off, well outside of viewing range, but he knew it's location all the same. He'd followed the powers of Dabura, Nefaria, and the three mortals all the way to and up the path, before making his way back to the path between realms. He had no desire to be surprised by them again. He'd stopped following them after their powers had vanished from Purgatory but now curiosity made him seek them out again.
It was a long reach up to the higher planes of the Realm from where he was. Even though the Dead Zone was infinite in all directions he was still, technically speaking, at the very bottom of the Realm. Even with his ties to Purgatory to aid in reaching that Plane with his senses it took him a few moments to find what he was looking for. And when he did his eyes widened in shock. He could feel two high powers on the Grand Mazoku's world, only one of which he recognized from before. The second one was almost as strong as Nefaria and completely unknown to him.
"One of the two those Demons captured, maybe?" he wondered. "But why would they be fighting one of their own?" He frowned and stretched his mind out a bit further but couldn't find any other powers, not even Dabura, no matter how far he stretched his senses. Though, he couldn't sense beyond Limbo. Which meant that Dabura must have gone higher. Likely to the Mazoku Plane to confront Quietus.
"Bah, let him." he said, turning back toward the path between realms. "Lord Quietus will kill him and the weakling easily enough. That Shinkai Mortal, though... Normally I wouldn't even consider him a danger of any sort but... these Mortals are unusual. And there's the matter of this green red-eyed creature that Lord Quietus saw. I need to find out what that was and if it's related to these Mortals..." he muttered, flying into the path for Shinkai.
XXX
Makai, Limbo, Grand Mazoku's World
Goku quickly ducked under the kick aimed for his head. He went to move behind Vegeta to aim a kick of his own at the other's back but the Sai-jin King's elbow surged down and slammed into the top of his head before he'd even begun to move. His vision blurred for a moment and in that instant Vegeta grabbed the back of his head and dove toward the ground two hundred feet below. There was a thunderously loud and powerful shockwave as he smashed Goku face first into the ground.
Suddenly Vegeta's hand went down into the ground as Goku vanished. The royal reacted in an instant, sending out a burst of ki in all directions. The shockwave caught Goku as he reappeared and knocked him away from Vegeta, who turned toward the power he could now sense and sent a punch charging in for his face. The other just managed to move his head out of the way, and then brought his left leg up jamming his knee into Vegeta's stomach.
The blow was a glancing one, however, as Vegeta had already been dodging. He quickly countered with a kick for Goku's head that the other Sai-jin slipped under before lancing a punch out for his chest. Vegeta deflected it and retaliated with a punch of his own that connected with a resounding crack against Goku's chest knocking the Sai-jin back a few dozen feet. The follow-up blast of purple energy missed, however, as Goku disappeared. He scowled and turned his gaze back up toward the sky.
Goku now floated a few hundred feet above him, hands cupped at his sides with blue energy charging between them. He made no move to counter the building attack, merely stood there waiting. A few moments later Goku thrust his arms down and fired, the stream of blue energy surging at him quickly, and Vegeta scowled. The attack was almost on him when he jumped into the air and lashed out with a kick, knocking it off course. He scowled more as he watched it sail off into the distance for a moment, then turned his gaze back up to his opponent.
"You're not taking this seriously." he said, floating up into the air until the two were eye level. "Stop holding back and fight me!" There was a burst of purple as he suddenly surged in at him. Reaching him a moment later he lashed out with a hard right kick for his head but Goku's arm came up and blocked it. Pulling back he sent a punch toward his stomach but the other slipped around the arm, moved behind him, and slammed his foot into his back.
"I said fight seriously!" Vegeta yelled as he quickly turned around and fired off a blast of black and purple energy. Goku's eyes widened as he saw it coming and barely managed to slip around it. His eyes widened further a moment later, just before Vegeta's energy encased fist slammed into his face knocking him back. The royal charged after him and quickly caught up, thrusting an elbow down into his stomach and driving him down toward the ground three hundred feet below.
Goku regained control of his momentum only a few feet above the ground and quickly veered off, arcing back up toward the other. He still wasn't sure how to handle this. He was worried that if they both went all out in the fight one of them might end up dead as a result, and he didn't know what would happen if they died here. He fired off a punch for Vegeta's head as he reached him, but it was dodged and countered with kick that he just barely dodged in turn.
/The problem is, he's not holding back./ Goku thought, just avoiding another energy encased fist aimed for his head. /Vegeta's giving it everything he has in this, and if I don't do likewise I'll definitely be ending up dead here./ He deflected another punch away from his head and then slammed both open palms into Vegeta's chest knocking him away. "Alright, you want serous?" he said. "Let's see what you've got!"
Vegeta pulled to a stop and smirked as his opponent charged at him. "It's about time, Kakkarotto!" he said, slipping around a kick and then launching an elbow at him. Goku blocked it, countered with a kick that was blocked as well, then ducked under a punch. Before he could do anything more Vegeta smashed his knee into his face. "I will beat you, here and now, once and for all, and right all the wrongs!" he cried, grabbing hold of Goku's foot and then diving toward the world below.
Only ten feet above the ground he came to a stop as he pitched the other Sai-jin down. His other arm then shot down as well and he fired off a blast of purple energy which impacted a second after Goku and exploded, blasting a fifty foot crater in the ground. He turned around and brought his arm up an instant later, just blocking the kick that had been aimed for the back of his head, and scowled.
/Kakkarotto's ability to teleport is seriously annoying./ he thought, as the two of them began trading blows again. /At least he's finally taking this fight seriously. Though he's STILL stronger than I am, even with the power increase I just had, I will settle this, once and for all, here and now! Everything is his fault, defeating him will correct it all!/
Goku reached up and blocked a kick at his side with his arm as he sent one of his own at Vegeta's head, which was also blocked. /Vegeta's power has increased a lot from what I felt from him before, during the tournament./ he thought, ducking under another kick and attempting to punch him in the stomach, but missing as the other dodged around it. /He hadn't seemed to have mastered the first level yet, and hadn't improved the second at all. This Dark Awakening technique must have pushed him to the power limits of both levels. I haven't reached the limit of the second level yet, so I suppose it's not too surprising that even with a lower starting power he's so close to me now./
Goku twisted around a punch and then made a grab for Vegeta's out-stretched arm, but the Sai-jin royal avoided the grab. /Still, I have a definite edge in this fight in terms of speed and power. I could end this with a single well placed full strength hit... if I could actually get close enough long enough to deliver one. He's not letting up at all, even with my speed advantage I'm only just keeping pace with him. He really is giving it everything he has./
His eyes widened a second later as spinning disc of purple ki came surging at his head. He'd just slipped around it when he saw three more coming. He slid around the first, ducked under the second, and then quickly brought his legs up to dodge the third. As he did he he felt a sharp pain in his right arm and glanced that way. The first disc had arced back and just sliced a small gash in his arm. Behind him the other three discs were turning around, readying to make another pass at him as well. /Oh man, it looks like I really don't have a choice, I'm going to have to go all out here or I'm not going to make it!/
XXX
Malus grinned as the Mortal charged at him. He was quite looking forward to finishing the battle he'd started back in Shinkai. Even injured as he was he was positive he could win. He had the power advantage and he knew how the boy fought. He had a lot of power, more power than he'd ever imagined a Mortal could have, but he lacked the heart of a warrior. He didn't fight with all he had, didn't make use of every opening presented to him, and thus gave his opponent the advantage.
The Demon easily slipped around the Sai-jin's fist as it sailed past his head. Reaching out he grabbed his arm just above the elbow, pulled him in toward him, and thrust an elbow out into his face with a resounding crack. He kept a firm grip on the boy's arm even after the blow sent him reeling back, and used it to yank him back in for a second hit. However, the Sai-jin managed to duck under it, just barely, and then lunged up jamming the top of his head into the Demon's jaw.
The blow stunned him and his hold on the arm loosened enough Gohan pulled free. Malus shook his head to try and clear the spots he was seeing, and then grinned. The boy had pulled back a few feet and assumed a fighting stance, but had made no move to attack while he was open. /He's fighting just as he did back in Shinkai. I'd wondered if perhaps concern for the girl would change his style any, but it hasn't. He's still a wimp./
In a flash of red Malus charged in at him again and made as though to fire a punch at his head, but he pulled it at the last second and lashed out with a kick for his right side instead. Gohan had already moved to block the punch and his reaction time to the change of attacks was too slow to stop the kick, so the Demon's foot slammed into his side with a crack. He winced under the blow as he lashed out with hard left hook.
Malus's eyes widened in shock and he moved back quickly, but not quite quickly enough as the boy's fist caught him in the jaw and spun him around. There was a resounding crack a second later as Gohan kicked him in the back and knocked him flying several feet before he could pull to a stop. Turning around he found the Sai-jin still floating in the same place, once again in his fighting stance. The Demon grinned and charged in at him again.
/I have to make this quick./ Gohan thought, as he dodged around Malus's punch. /But I can't risk going all out here. Videl could be badly injured, she's certainly unconscious at the least. If I lose control I could hurt her more... or worse./ He dodged around a kick and then retaliated with a kick to the back of the Demon's head, before pulling back and waiting for the next attack again.
/Of course, there's also dad and Vegeta./ he thought as he flicked his eyes toward where the other two were fighting, now about a half a mile away and thirty feet higher than him. /They don't know where Videl is, a stray attack or something could land on top of her... What do I do?/ He ducked under a kick but before he could counter Malus slammed his knee into his face driving him back. The Demon followed up with an elbow to his back that drove him down into the ground below, blasting out a twenty foot crater.
Gohan groaned as he pushed himself up onto his hands and knees. He'd not actually fought anyone of his own level in ages. Occasional spars with Videl for training, but they never got that intense. Nothing like the training he'd gone through to prepare for the Androids or Cell. He'd known there was still a threat out there, still the matter with Raven and her people, but they hadn't been an imminent threat so he'd allowed himself to try and have as normal a life as possible.
/So while I've gotten significantly stronger over the last seven years I'm out of practice in an actual fight./ he thought with a frown as he got to his feet and then just barely dodged around a kick that had been aimed at the back of his head. He'd almost not sensed Malus nearing him, his father and Vegeta's energies were nearly overwhelming his senses. /Dad's dealing with Vegeta, grandpa's putting a stop to Quietus, that leaves me as Videl's only hope for help./
He slipped into another fighting stance, his eyes narrowing as his mind locked more firmly onto the Demon's ki signature. Its inherently different nature than that of his father or Vegeta made it a little easier to notice even in the midst of their massive powers. If he could keep his focus on that difference he'd be less likely to lose track of it during the fight. /She's counting on me to stop this guy and get her out of here. I can't afford to hold back anymore. Hang on Videl, I'll be there soon./