Daikirai frowned as he pulled to a stop and glanced around him. This was his first time in Shinkai and he was finding the Realm... odd. Hell had not been an empty void like the Dead Zone and the H.F.I.L. was a single unbroken plane of ground, not the millions of small planetoids that made up purgatory. Above him he could see straight into Otherworld, though he knew normally a cloud barrier seperated the planes.
That, too, was odd. What good were clouds at keeping the trash where they belonged? At least the tears had sped his trip up from Hell. While the three strongest Demons Quietus had created had returned to Makai there were still millions of the weaker ones in Shinkai, many of them in Hell, and a few of them had taken him to the H.F.I.L. from a tear in Hell.
Now he just had to decide if he wanted to remain in Otherworld or travel to the Mortal Plane to conduct his search. Whatever Quietus had sensed had occurred there, but tracking it down wouldn't be easy. However, if it was as significant as it seemed, as the mortals he'd encountered seemed to suggest, then it was likely someone in Otherworld would...
His thoughts trailed off as his senses hit upon several high powers not far from where he was. A battle of some sort was happening there which made it his best option for information. Keeping his power supressed, he didn't want to attact attention to himself, he set off as quickly as he could. The powers were only a half a mile or so from the tear he'd emerged from so even at his slowed pace he'd get there quickly.
He was only about half way there when a brilliant flash of purple flared up just beyond what was either a massive boulder or a shrunken mountain, and one of the powers he'd been sensing vanished. Clearly the battle had ended, though he wasn't sure which side had won. Landing atop the boulder he gazed the forty feet down to the ground and surveyed what he'd come across, a grin spreading across his face.
He instantly recognized one of those below him as the Supreme Kai from two thousand years before. If anyone in the Realm knew what it was that Quietus had sensed it would be her. He debated attacking her, forcing her to tell him what he wanted to know, and being the one to take her down and conquer the Realm was enticing, but soon decided against it.
The man with the pink skin and white hair wore the robes of a Supreme Kai, and so was likely a replacement for one of those who'd died, and there was no telling if the other two had also been replaced yet. One Supreme Kai he could take, even two, but three or four of them would pose a problem even to him. No, it would be better to track her, to learn what she knew from a distance. He raised his hands and cupped them, gazing at Mikomi through the gap between them as he chanted.
He'd just finished the spell when she rested a hand on the shoulder of the black haired man and vanished. The other Supreme Kai and the Grand Kai following suit a split second later. The two who remained, both with halos, lifted into the air and flew off in different directions. As the pair left Daikirai lowered his hands and turned the right one palm up. There was a shimmer and then a flash as a crystal ball appeared.
Sitting down on his boulder he gazed into the crystal ball. He'd magically linked it to Mikomi's energy, where she went its gaze would follow. He would see and know all she did, and with luck she would soon lead him to the information he sought.
XXX
Makai, Mazoku Plane
Nefaria reacted on instinct as soon as Quietus's attack exploded. She lifted into the air and launched herself backwards, flying away from the blast zone as fast as she could. Even at her top speed the expanding wall of energy was gaining on her at first, but after a moment she began to out pace it and then it's growth came to a halt. She pulled to a stop then as well and stared at the energy dome in shocked disbelief.
Dabura had told her that Quietus was powerful, stronger even than him, but this was beyond what she'd expected. She'd felt his power spike up as he'd launched the attack and he was now significantly stronger than the Mazoku King. It was easy to tell why he'd lost the first time they'd fought, even with the advantages he had due to his post the difference was would be problematic. Not utterly insurmountable, no, but the odds would not be in his favor.
She shook it off after another moment, there was nothing she could do to aid Dabura in his battle. Quietus was way out of her league. She could still sense Dabura's power and, despite the attack he'd just taken, it hadn't gone down much. So, trying to push Quietus's power from her mind, she turned her focus back to Aku, and her eyes widened in shock once more.
The other Mazoku had, clearly, recovered from the shock of Quietus's attack faster than her as he had his right arm pointed at her with black and white energies swirling around in front of it. She recognized the attack he was preparing and silent cursed herself for forgetting her opponent, even momentarily. With a cry and burst of energy she launched in at him once more, intending to disrupt his attack before it was ready.
She was already too late, however. As she charged in Aku smirked and called out. "Spiral Fang!" The twin energies shot forth from his hand, white and black, sprialing around each other as they flew, the ends coming together into a single, sharp, point. Nefaria quickly redirected her momentum upward, intending to go over the attack, but the attack angled upward to follow.
Realizing she wouldn't be able to dodge she pulled to a stop and quickly thrust her arms out firing off a stream of energy to try and deflect the attack with. The two energy attacks met a second later and her eyes widened in fear as the Spiral Fang sliced right through her energy stream without slowing. There wasn't time enough to react and the point of the attack hit her square in the chest an instant later, piercing clean through her torso and surging out of her back. Aku cackled as he ended the attack and Nefaria fell to the ground with a dull thud.
"I told you," he said, walking toward her. "You were dead the second you came back here. A weakling like you could never hope to take me! You picked the wrong side, Nefaria. The weak side."
Rolling onto her side and coughing up blood Nefaria grimaced in pain. She could feel the wound closing but Aku's attack had punched a pretty large hole right through her, it would take time. Fortunately it didn't feel like anything major had been hit. Her lungs were still working, her heart still pumping, so while it was bad it could have been worse. That didn't stop it from hurting like a bitch, though.
"Still too... self absorbed to... see beyond... yourself, I see." she managed, pushing herself up onto her knees and then shakily standing upright once again.
Aku snorted. "More of that nonsense?" he scoffed. "You keep talking but that's all it is, talk. Look at you, then look at me. You can barely stand now. The only reason you're still alive is because we are here, where the plane can heal you. Action, Nefaria! Action is what gets things done, what matters, not words!"
Nefaria shook her head and winced as a sharp pain lanced through her torso, bone shards moving from where they'd ended up back to where they belonged. He was right about one thing, at least. She could barely stand at the moment. The power of the plane was mending her body but even after she was fully healed she would still be weakened. Her chances of winning the fight had taken a serious nose dive.
"Have you forgotten the powers currently fighting on Malchio's world?" she asked. "Not Mazoku, not Kai, Mortal. Two Mortals whose powers are on level with the Supreme Mazoku, whose powers exceed my own."
"Further proof you are weak." Aku said, smirking, as he came to a stop only ten feet away from her. "Not even these Shinkai Mortals of yours can stop Quietus, or have you not noticed how powerful he is? Well, though I doubt you'll see reason, I will give you one last chance to join us."
"I stand with Dabura." Nefaria said.
Aku shook his head. "Then you shall die with him!" He lunged in faster than Nefaria could see and slammed his fist into her stomach, doubling her over, then smashed his elbow into the back of her head driving her into the ground. Reaching down he grabbed her by the hair and lifted her back up. "I'll keep you alive for now, though. You will watch Dabura fail, and then when you've finally seen that you've lost, then I will kill you."
XXX
Dabura strained under the force of the explosion, forcing as much of his own energy out around him at one time as he could in an effort to stop it from engulfing him. He'd managed to create a small space of saftey in which he was currently crouching, but it was taking a lot of effort to maintain that space.
/At least he's finally gone to his full power./ he thought. The only positive was that now the Sai-jin would know exactly how strong to make his attack before unleashing it. /Now as long as I can last long enough for him to use it... Though what did he mean about being god?/
He felt the pressure against him subsiding, managed to get back up onto his feet, and then let out a sigh as the blast at last faded away. A massive crater had been gouged out all around him, the only places untouched were where he stood and where Quietus stood. Dabura knew now that the Demon had powered-up to his maximum things would not go as well as they had been.
"I'm impressed you managed to block that so well." Quietus said. "You should have just saved us the time and trouble, however, and taken it. We both know you can't beat me."
"Maybe." Dabura said, pushing off and lunging toward the Demon. "Maybe not."
Quietus laughed as he swerved left, right, up, down, and around all of Dabura's swings with ease. Dabura was giving it his all, trying his best to make contact, but wasn't even coming close. He felt the same frustration now that he had two thousand years before. He'd had trouble with making contact with direct attacks then, also. Most of the attacks that he had landed had been made tactically, and had been too few and too far between to really amount to much.
Suddenly Quietus's arm shot out and his fist slammed into Dabura's chest, driving him back a dozen feet and breaking five ribs. He felt them knitting back together even as they broke but Quietus was on him almost as fast, his leg lashing out and slamming into the side of his head. Then his fist shot up into his abdomen, elbow slammed into his back, a knee shot up into his chest, and then he slammed his fist into his face knocking him back and down into the bottom of the crater.
There was a brilliant flash of red and black and the ground around Dabura exploded as the Mazoku King launched himself back up into the battle. He charged head long at him but about ten feet away he suddenly vanished as he put on a burst of speed and dashed around behind his opponent.
There was a loud crack an instant later as Quietus brought his arm up and caught Dabura's punch. Then another as he blocked the follow-up kick. The Demon pulled his head forward then, and then shot it backward slamming it into Dabura's face causing the Mazoku to stagger back. Turning he lashed out with a kick at the same time, hitting him in the chest and knocking him further back.
"Why not save us both some time and just give up?" Quietus said, smirking. "We both know you can't win. You couldn't do it two thousand years ago and you can't do it now."
Dabura frowned as he rubbed his chest. He hated to admit it but, while Quietus wasn't entirely correct, he was close enough. He could win, the power differnce wasn't great enough to completely preclude the possibility, just make it quite small. The Demon's significant speed advantage made it difficult to land blows, and the nature of his wings made it difficult to be sure they would do the intended damage.
"This little war of yours is far from over." Dabura said. "I wouldn't dream of quitting. If I did I wouldn't get to see the look on your face just as you realized you were about to die."
Quietus arched an eyebrow at that, then threw his head back and burst into laughter. "Me, die? That's not going to..." his voiced trailed off. He'd just noticed something in the sky. It had taken a few seconds for it to register that he was seeing something unusual. Some kind of light that was most definitely out of place. There were no stars in the Mazoku plane.
/What is that?/ he wondered, brow furrowing as he reached out with his senses. He wasn't sure what it was, though he suspected that Dabura was behind it.
Dabura had noticed his opponent's sudden distraction and followed his gaze upward. It took him a moment to spot the light as well, but he realized what it was quickly. It had to be the attack that the Mortal was generating. Clearly a long way off and clearly already quite large, both in size and power.
/Not good./ the Mazoku King thought. /The plan's been discovered and I doubt the attack is ready yet. I've got to get his focus back on me./
With a cry he lunged in to attack Quietus once more, but as he neared he saw the Demon's eyes widen in shock for a split second, and then a deep scowl settled over his face as he suddenly shot skyward. Dabura cursed and changed course to follow, though he was quickly being left behind.
/I'll never catch him before he gets there./ he thought, scowling as he poured on more speed, using his magic to tap into the powers of the Realm and Plane and boost his speed. It wasn't enough to gain on Quietus, or even keep pace, but at least he wasn't falling behind as much.
He'd still arrive at the Mortal's location at least twenty seconds behind the Demon, he just had to hope it would still be soon enough to save the Mortal. He doubted he could last long enough for the other one to finish his fight on the Grand Mazoku's world, get here, and create another of these 'Spirit Bomb' attacks.
XXX
Bardock had been following the battles below him with growing concern, even before Quietus's power increased. Every time it seemed like Nefaria or Dabura was getting the upper hand in their fight things turned the other way again. And then he'd felt Quietus's power suddenly shoot up and let out an impressed whistle.
A few moments after feeling Quietus's power increase he furrowed his brow in concentration, not wanting to believe what he felt. It only took a few seconds for him to realize he was right, Quietus was now charging directly at his position. He'd clearly been discovered.
/Not good./ he thought, frowning. The Spirit Bomb was no where near powerful enough to defeat the Demon with. He'd only gathered around half the energy that he figured would be needed. Not even the trick Goku had used against Janemba would be enough in this situation.
"Nothing for it, then." he muttered, as he sealed up the Spirit Bomb to prevent any energy leaking away. He figured the Demon would likely destroy it but in the off chance he didn't at least Goku wouldn't have to start over from scratch. Lowering his arms he flashed gold as he transformed to the second level. He knew it wouldn't make any difference but he'd be damned if he'd go out without at least trying to fight back.