To Challenge the Imperishable Storm

Everything turned still within the innermost chamber of Tenshukaku, as an ongoing staredown was transpiring between one young martial artist and the ruler of Inazuma.

Goku could not help but be both excited and anxious of the battle that was about to occur, his entire body shivering at such a prospect.

He did not know why he felt like this, yet he couldn't contain them either. It was just who he was.

What he did know however, was that the opponent before him was...strong.

Whether or not she was stronger than anyone he had met in life up until this point remained to be seen.

That was why he had been looking forward to this battle.

The silence broke as the Raiden Shogun made the first move, charging towards him at a speed that caught even him off guard.

Luckily for the martial artist, he was able to react just in time as he backed away from a sweeping slash from his opponent.

The Shogun did not give him any time to consider his next move as she immediately followed up with a forward stab, of which he quickly moved to the side, where strands of his hair were cut by the curved blade of the naginata.

Goku retaliated by taking a step forward, before letting out a roundhouse kick that was aimed at her upper body.

The Shogun simply ducked right under the strike, and repositioned her weapon as she went in for another hit.

Foreseeing such an attack, Goku evaded it as he slightly shifted his body to the left, allowing him another chance to counterattack.

These small exchanges of back and forth continued on for several minutes, with neither successfully landing a solid hit on the other.

As the two continued in their efforts to take down one another, Goku was also using this time to observe each and every movement of his opponent in an attempt to figure out her fighting style.

He was no expert practitioner of weapons like the one the Shogun was using, but if there was one thing that was clear to the martial artist, it was that...

She was fast.

Yes, he was keeping up with her, but he could hardly say he was readily outpacing her either. In fact, it was a first for him fighting with this much rapidity going on.

Certainly, he had matches that came close to such interactions as well, but never one to the extent that he barely had time to even breathe.

Not even the one with Piccolo gave him such little leeway or room to maneuver himself in battle. The supposed demon king was vicious in his assaults, but the Electro Archon was nothing but efficient, yet at the same time just as relentless as the former.

Every one of her moves were executed in such a way that he was only able to respond with basic strikes and kicks. If it weren't for his training at the Sanctuary, he would have been on the receiving end right about now.

The worst, or perhaps the best part...was that she hadn't even begun to get serious yet.

Obviously, they were both testing out one another at the moment, but Goku felt that it was about time for him to step it up a notch.

Not just him either, as he was going to force his opponent to do the same thing as well.

Goku leapt backwards as another slash from the Shogun missed its target, and proceeded to clap both his hands together.

Sparks of electricity began to gather around his palms as he slowly removed them, with the Shogun being mostly unresponsive by what was going on as she simply went through the same motion she did before by charging ahead.

This lasted...until he released a blast of lightning towards her, prompting her to react by putting her guard up.

It hit her directly, yet it merely slowed her down for only but a moment, before she eventually disregarded his attack almost entirely.

Seeing this, Goku put more energy into the technique as the intensity of the lightning continued to escalate. Despite that however, the Shogun merely took his technique head on as she went in to close the distance between them, and in the span of a second, Goku was now within the range of her weapon.

Realizing this, he stopped the technique as quickly as he could and backed away from the Shogun's wide slash. The moment his feet touched the ground, he quickly leapt forward to let out a right hook.

In the midst of connecting his punch, Goku noticed trails of lightning sparking in the air.

When he took note of it, however, it was already too late for him to realize that those did not come from the lightning that lingered from his technique...

Rather, it came from the Shogun.

An explosion of lightning erupted right under him in an arc that was the exact same as the slash she had just executed.

Goku could do nothing but be lifted into the air from the blast, sending him hurtling away from his opponent. Though it stung a bit, Goku was able to rebalance himself as he backflipped back onto the ground, his eyes visibly focused on the area of the attack just now.

"No wonder my technique didn't work just now."

It was because she was better at manipulating that particular element than he ever could, considering how only recently was he able to use this technique proficiently.

Guessed there was a reason he kept hearing people calling her the Electro Archon.

Still, even if it didn't work, it was still good confirmation on what worked and what didn't.

Besides, it seemed like she was finally getting a bit more serious about this fight, which was what he wanted from the attempt just now.

"Tell me, what do you plan to achieve from this skirmish?" his opponent suddenly spoke for the first time since the beginning of this battle.

"Skirmish? Oh, you're talking about this fight...but I don't really get what you're trying to say?" Goku answered honestly, not quite getting what she was trying to convey.

She did not let out a sigh nor express annoyance at his question, merely explained, "Do you believe that by defying what has already been decreed, you would achieve what you set out for?"

"...I mean, it's not like if I beat you then you would suddenly stop or anything...I already know that, but that doesn't mean I can't at least try," Goku declared seriously as he shifted into a basic stance.

The Shogun did not give him a verbal response, rather one in the form of action as electro gathered around her naginata, particularly on the metallic part of her weapon.

Both of them moved towards one another simultaneously, with Raiden preparing an upward slash while Goku readied his right fist.

"HAH!"

An invisible blast of ki traveled forth as he extended his right arm, hitting the Shogun dead center. Though it connected, his opponent stood her ground as she swung her weapon right at him, as if the force that she just experienced was non-existent.

True to form, he dodged it once again and outstretched his left arm, preparing to attack...only to stop mid-swing.

Before he could readjust himself for another attack, her naginata had already closed the distance between as descended upon him, forcing him to roll to the side in order to evade it.

This pattern repeated itself several times over, and every time Goku was about to go in for the attack, he simply wasn't able to…or more specifically, he couldn't.

It was mainly due to the trails of lightning that were now following along the arc of her swings, lingering in mid-air for only but an instance. However, it was that very small instance that allowed Goku to realize that in terms of direct combat, he was now in a disadvantageous position.

Before, there was a gap he could exploit every time she swung her weapon, it was what gave him the opening to land a counterattack.

Now, with these streams of electro energy blocking his way, the gap that existed before had disappeared.

If he wanted to attack, then he would have to endure the ever existing trails of lighting behind every one of those slashes. The issue was that even if he was able to get past them, there was no guarantee his attack would connect, as shown by the beginning of the fight.

Goku's fists...could no longer reach the Shogun.

Fine, he'll just have to make them fly instead.

Gathering ki into both his arms, he punched the air several times, each one in a different direction even if he was not physically hitting anything solid.

The Shogun did not think much of it until she felt an invisible pressure heading towards her, and quickly came to the realization this was the result of her opponent's action just now as she deflected the attack.

From Goku's perspective, it seemed like the technique was not completely effective, seeing that the Raiden Shogun was blocking most, if not all of his attacks.

Though they were invisible, they were still far too slow to catch her off guard. Adding the fact that it would drain his ki a lot if he continued to use this throughout this fight didn't help either.

Still, this was enough.

Goku leapt off into the air as he moved forward, bending both his legs before delivering a swift dropkick onto his opponent.

The moment his feet came into something solid, he did not feel it connecting with his opponent, rather a cold yet electrifying sensation permeating the sole of his boots instead.

It was then and there he noticed the reason he had completely stopped mid-air.

A barrier made completely of electro surrounded the Raiden Shogun, as if it was trying to say it rejected anything and everything that dared approached her.

Try as he might, he could not make a dent on it.

Just as he was about to take off to reposition himself, the Shogun took him by surprise as she simply deactivated the shield, causing him to lose his footing on the shield.

With nothing holding him up in the air any longer, Goku was subjected to the incoming assault that the Shogun was about to unleash.

Unable to respond in any way shape or form, a whirlwind of slashes rained down upon him as the Shogun spun in place, accompanied by lightning twisting around her position as she swung her naginata with precision and strength, each hit striking the martial artist who was left to endure it by himself.

As Goku was sent flying into the air as bits and pieces of his clothes scattered from the cut, he quickly recovered as he concentrated a heavy amount of his ki into his right fist, before extending it towards the Shogun.

This time around, Goku gathered most of his ki into this one attack as he sent it flying straight at his opponent.

Recognizing what was about to occur, the Raiden Shogun simply held her weapon defensively as the floor beneath her was smashed, causing pieces of the floorboard to fall apart as dust clouds appeared.

Landing back onto the ground, Goku's eyes maintained focus on the silhouette of his opponent, waiting for any sort of movement that would reveal her next attack.

No matter how long he stared at the scene before him, there were no signs of her doing...anything at all. This carried on until the dust finally settled, allowing him to have a good look at the Electro Archon once more.

As expected, she remained unperturbed despite the strongest ki attack he had thrown so far, demonstrated by her apathetic demeanor.

There was only one technique that was more destructive than what he had just displayed, but he had something to say to the Electro Archon before he was even thinking of using it.

"Hehe, you're just as strong as everyone says you are...no, probably even more. One thing I don't get though is why are you doing something so horrible to the people here? You don't look like a bad person to me," he asked seeing that the Shogun wasn't exactly attacking him right now.

What he said just now was simply what he believed, as her straightforward fighting style more than spoke for her character. He couldn't quite describe it but he always had a good idea of someone's personality after fighting them for a while.

Then again, he couldn't quite get a feel for her ki either. It was one of those things he had learnt from Kami, was that ki sense by itself allows one to somewhat determine a person's nature.

Still, the issue wasn't that he couldn't figure out the nature of her ki, rather he couldn't sense it at all.

It was strange, he could feel some sort of transparent pressure coming from her, but no matter how hard he focused on it, he detected everything around him but her.

He was sure his ki sense was working, so his best guess was there was something about the Raiden Shogun that made him unable to.

"And why does that concern you?"

"It concerns me cause the people you're involving include my new friends...plus, I just don't like what's been going on ever since I got here."

"A foolish notion then," she stated, disregarding his reasoning.

"And why's that?"

"You are an outlander, by what right do you have to interfere in matters that concern Inazuma? Simply because you have experienced camaraderie, one that is as fleeting as the wind?"

"Maybe, but that doesn't mean I can just leave without doing anything. I've seen enough of the things that's been going on here, that's why I'm here to make you stop."

He may not know many things, but he knew that whatever was going on in Inazuma felt…wrong. He had no desire of simply abandoning the people he befriended just because of his current goal.

It just wouldn't sit well with him.

"Then you seek to resolve matters that oppose the pursuit of eternity."

"You keep talking about this eternity thing...and I've heard about it once from Kokomi too. Is that really all you care about? Cause I don't get what's so important that you have to hurt the people around here."

Goku couldn't believe how dismissive she was of human lives.

Was this truly what a God was supposed to be like?

The only other one he knew personally was Kami, but there was a stark contrast when comparing the two deities.

Kami wanted to protect the Earth, so much so he had split himself into two beings, one good and the other bad. It was clear that was the truth considering Goku was being trained to battle the newly reincarnated Piccolo at the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai.

The Raiden Shogun however...from what he saw, he could not feel good nor evil from her, almost like she was devoid of any emotion as all she concerned herself with was eternity, and nothing else.

There had to be something more he wasn't getting here.

"...Considering your utterance of Sangonomiya, I have now confirmed you are involved with the rebels. As such, you will be dealt with accordingly, with nothing more to discuss."

Goku readied himself for anything that she could throw at her, but was perplexed by what he was about to see with his own eyes.

It was a shard of some sort, floating in the air as the Shogun spun her naginata around, trails of lightning bouncing across the floor around it.

It wasn't until the very same object unleashed a wave of electro energy around it did he figure out its purpose.

The martial artist simply jumped into the air in order to dodge the attack. What he didn't know however was that it had been the Shogun's plan in the first place.

"There is no escape," she declared menacingly as she swiped her left arm.

At that moment, Goku saw a symbol of some kind appear before her, before it dissipated into nothingness, followed along by bits of electro energy being dispersed into the air.

While the strange symbol disappeared, an identical looking one appeared once more...only this time, it was significantly smaller and situated right above the Raiden Shogun's head.

Once he got a better look at it, the shape of the symbol seemed similar to that of an eye, but what held his attention more was the thin circle of purplish light accompanying it, almost akin to a ring behind the Shogun. What that meant however, was lost on him as he was more interested in what this would entail in the fight.

He didn't need to wonder for long the purpose of her action just now as a rift suddenly appeared above him out of nowhere.

After materializing, the gap widened itself as a slash composed of electro energy struck him in the back, and upon doing so, pushed him back onto the ground.

And just as Goku was about to steer himself for a safe landing, he realized that it would be a mistake to do so as the electro waves had not stopped spreading across the entire chamber.

...In fact, it was pulsating still, unleashing wave by wave.

Hurriedly, he placed one arm onto the ground, using it as an anchor to prevent the rest of his body from touching the floor. Upon doing so, Goku flinched from the surge of electro passing through his body, before setting aside the pain as he twisted his arm around.

Right before another wave came upon him, he launched himself towards the Raiden Shogun.

Just as he was about to land an attack of his own, the small rift appeared once more beside him, unleashing another thunderous slash on his person..

Left with little options, Goku changed his course of action by cupping both his arms before stretching them forward, "Hah!"

A small energy blast was let loose between his palms as it headed straight towards the Raiden Shogun.

She remained unphased by such a feeble attempt, as she saw there was no need to put up her guard, yet Goku's aim was not to hit her, but to propel himself backwards through the ki blast.

Because of that, he was able to escape her attack successfully.

There was no moment to rest however, as he was greeted by another sight of the ever pulsating wave, forcing him to retreat once more.

And as he did so, another rift appeared before him, of which he responded by jumping to the side in order to escape its strike.

Goku had no choice but to redouble his efforts in just dodging the coordinated attacks of both the strange shard and the ever disappearing rift.

The longer he did so however, the more he realized that they were slowly cornering him ever so slightly, until the possibility of being hit simultaneously could easily become a certainty.

There had to be something he could do to flip the situation around.

But what exactly could he do?

So far, he had found a lot of things he was lacking against his current opponent.

In terms of speed, he and the Shogun were neck and neck, with one neither being clear cut in terms of who was faster.

On the topic of strength, neither of them had gone all out just yet, but even that he felt uncertain on who would come out on top.

So what did he lack?

Range.

It was an indisputable fact that the Raiden Shogun had a variety of techniques that could keep him at bay from a distance. Not only that, her naginata was more than several times longer than his arm, making it considerably easy for her attacks to reach him than his to hers.

Of course, he had fought opponents that wielded weapons in the past, but never before someone he would consider a master at. Usually, he was able to overcome them despite the disparity of range but the Shogun was on a different level entirely.

He also no longer had the Nyoibo by his side, the weapon he had used before in his journey, what with it being used as a bridge of sorts from Korin Tower to the Sanctuary. If he did have it, he was sure he could have at least even up the situation by now, as it was more than capable of handling the Shogun's weapon.

The one technique he had come up with to try and overcome this weakness came to be ineffective as well, which did not help in the matter.

Despite the situation he found himself in, Goku was letting out an easygoing smile, as it was simply because this fight was too fun for him, something he had not experienced for a few years now.

Still, he needed to restrain his emotions a bit as this was most certainly not the time for it.

Sidestepping another slash, an idea finally came into form within the inner workings of Goku's mind.

And he was more than eager to try it out.

Bending both his legs, Goku waited for the exact moment to jump the distance. The moment he heard the sound of a rift being opened, he leapt off into the direction of the Shogun, dodging both attacks simultaneously by doing so.

He then cupped both his hands, awaiting for the next attack to descend upon him. The martial artist was confident in the timing of the incoming attack as his body had become somewhat accustomed to the intervals of when it would start to strike.

Turned out, he was right.

As one rift opened up, situated right where he was heading towards to, Goku immediately turn to his left as he fired off a ki blast

This, in turn changed the direction of his momentum as he escaped another attack by sending himself towards the walls of the chamber.

Using it as a platform, Goku leapt off once more...only this time, he was aiming himself towards the location of the Raiden Shogun at a speed that even those rifts could not keep up with.

Upon witnessing this, his opponent raised her arm as she prepared to strike him down, an action that he had anticipated. Meanwhile, Goku pulled his right arm back, readying to throw a solid punch to counter the Shogun's attack.

As the two clashed, the Shogun's Naginata was the one that had reached him first as she let out a quick upper slash.

The blade simply sliced right through him, and it was then that she came to the realization...

It was not his real body.

The image of Son Goku faded past her like a mist, letting her now know that it had been a simple afterimage technique.

Hearing the strange noise around her, the Shogun turned around as she checked her surroundings, and was greeted by the sight of multiple images of Goku all around her, each one in ridiculous poses hanging in the air.

Another rift opened up near one of the images, rendering them with a single slash.

It seemed that even her Eye had issues determining the real one.

The Shogun quickly surmised that it was a diversion, one that was probably aimed at her when her attention was focused on these afterimages.

She was partly right, as one Son Goku was clinging to the ceiling of the chamber, planting both his feet firmly into them.

Goku scanned the area below him for a split second, and did not let out a single sound as he descended from above.

By the time the Shogun determined his new whereabouts, it was already too late for her to retaliate as for the first time in the battle, she was the one who had to back away entirely in order to dodge his attack.

The martial artist opened his right palm as he touched the pristine yet solid floor, before turning his wrist around as he threw himself into another direction.

It was not towards the Raiden Shogun, rather...

The unusual shard that had been the source of all those waves of electro.

Once he reached its general location, he immediately kicked it right up into the air, causing it to spin around wildly.

Without missing a beat, he quickly jumped upwards, dodging yet another rift and kicked it as strong as his leg would allow, shooting it straight at his opponent.

The shard was hurtling at an alarming pace, one that not even the Shogun would be indifferent to if hit. The Raiden Shogun simply stopped it with a gesture of her hand, halting it midway as sparks of lightning dispersed from it.

With her eyesight somewhat obscured by the shard, she could not see where her opponent was. This was soon remedied as the shard suddenly broke into pieces from an invisible force.

As the pieces of the shard fell, she was now able to see Goku's current whereabouts, only to be faced by the martial artist charging straight at her, almost as if he had anticipated this.

No matter, she would simply cut him down the moment he was within range.

Goku did not stop at all despite the clear indication that the Raiden Shogun was readying for another attack.

That was before he stopped himself, placing both his hands towards the forehead with his fingers spread toward his eyes.

He then yelled out a peculiar phrase.

"TAIYOKEN!"

A flash of overwhelming white light enveloped the whole area the two were in, blinding the Raiden Shogun.

Upon seeing the Shogun's reaction to the technique, it was a relief to him that it actually worked on her, adding to the fact that he would probably have to apologize to Tenshinhan for using a technique of his once he get back to his own world.

Still, this was the opportunity he had been waiting for.

In spite of her closed eyes, the Electro Archon was still focused enough to strike back as she swung her naginata right in his general location..

Goku couldn't help but be impressed by her strong concentration and will. Despite catching her off guard, the Raiden Shogun still remained composed enough to execute her next move in a calm manner.

Most other fighters weren't capable of what she was doing.

But as strong as she was, there was a noticeable drop in the speed of her swing, allowing him to easily bypass her attack.

Gripping his fist tightly, Goku went in for an all out attack as he began striking her with everything he had in his disposal.

"YATTATATA—"

With each and every hit onto the Raiden Shogun, Goku knew that his attack was visibly affecting his opponent in some way, yet she did not express any sort of outward pain or emotion of any sort in response.

Withdrawing his right arm for only a second, Goku then punched the Shogun in the gut with everything he could muster as he sent her flying back onto the middle end of the chamber.

The result of the final hit was the collapse of the entire wall coming down upon her due to the strong amount of force he had just put out.

Despite landing such a successful attack, Goku did not exhibit any sense of excitement of what he had just done as he could make out that something was off.

When he was attacking the Raiden Shogun just now, it didn't feel like he was hitting a human at all. He didn't quite know how to explain it if truth be told, but if there was a comparison that he could make, then it was like he was fighting one of those robots he had fought in the past.

Just then, the sliding door behind opened as several men came rushing into the room, each of them dressed in the armor he once saw in the Shogun's Army on Kannazuka.

"Pardon our rudeness Your Excellency, we humbly express our apologies for barging in but we couldn't help but notice the commotion that had transpired in the chamber. Because of this, we Okuzumeshuu have—" the man at the front stop, his eyes settling on the young martial artist who had been staring at them weirdly.

Goku blinked in pure confusion, not knowing who they were seeing as it was the first time he had seen a group like this one.

"You! What is an intruder like you doing here in Tenshukaku? Where is the Almighty Shogun!?" the men screamed, glaring at him as the rest of them put up their weapons.

The people here sure like calling someone with a bunch of names, he would probably have a lot of trouble keeping up if they weren't so similar half the time.

"Oh, you mean Raiden? Well, we were fighting just now and I sent her flying into the wall there...well, it used to be there," he explained somewhat apologetically as he gave them an awkward smile

They did not need any further explanation on what their next course of action was.

"Seize him!"

Goku was about to defend himself...until something occurred that shook him to the core.

Something that he had never experienced before.

An immense amount of pressure suddenly enveloped the entire chamber, affecting everyone in it, including the guards that had just arrived.

Many of them were affected by the sudden pressure they were experiencing, some shaking uncontrollably, a few even falling to the ground as they struggled to hold themselves together.

Goku however, merely turned around as he faced the source of it all.

"I knew you weren't done, not in the slightest," Goku stated as he shifted back to a more serious demeanor.

And he was right.

Bursts of lightning were summoned forth around the rubble, crackling ever so loudly as they all slowly but surely convene into one area.

The instant the surges of electro converge, the combined forces of electro exploded as it immediately eradicated the once enormous pile of rubble, revealing the individual that was the sole cause of such display of power.

There was a light that he had not seen before from her person, and it certainly wasn't from the translucent ring that was behind her before, as he could no longer see it anywhere. Thus, he had no clue on what the object she was holding until the dust finally settled.

It was a sword.

Not just any sword, one that evoked the very definition of lightning itself, judging from how wild and uncontrolled the amount of electro energy surging from it was.

It far surpassed the naginata that she was using before.

Not in terms of strength, rather it was almost like it represented the Raiden Shogun as a whole.

There was much more...life to it, if he could put it in a way.

Still, Goku grinned at the sight before him because he knew that this was it.

His opponent had finally decided to go all out.

"Kurgh—"

Goku turned his head towards the guards behind him, seeing that they were still visibly shaken by the intensity that permeated the air around them. Thus, he came to the decision that it was better if they continued this battle elsewhere.

He did so by giving the Raiden Shogun a confident grin as he pointed to the ceiling above, and quickly took off as he jumped upwards.

The Shogun remained silent, simply following suit as she gave one last glance towards the guards.

Goku took in the air around him as he and the Raiden Shogun now stood atop the highest point of Tenshukaku.

As he looked at what was below him, it seemed that everything had become a panic of sorts as there were many guards running around the premise, presumably trying to locate the both of them.

His thoughts were interrupted as the only other individual near him spoke, "Tell me, what is your name?"

It was kinda weird that she only now asked about his identity, "It's Goku."

"Incomplete. I have no need for a designation that is lacking in terms of information."

Goku scratched his head in confusion, as he couldn't quite get behind her reasoning, but complied nonetheless, "Son Goku."

"Son Goku, you are exceptional in the aspect of combat without the use of Vision, and with your affiliation with the rebel Sangonomiya, I hereby declare you an enemy of Eternity. Divine punishment will now be administered."

"Divine punishment?" Goku asked, raising his eyebrow in confusion at her words.

She did not elaborate any further, for she gripped her sword tightly as she dashed towards him on the rooftop.

The distance between them was immediately covered as the sounds of lightning crackled in front of him, prompting him a response in order to escape unscathed.

As he narrowly dodged the slash, Goku quickly realized he had been wrong in his assumption as he felt a stinging pain momentarily pervading his left shoulder.

He had been hit once, and from that alone, he could tell...

The possibility of dying from a slash like that was very real.

Well, he'll just have to make sure that doesn't happen.

Pieces of tiles were flung wildly into the air as the two continued their battle, where both of them were zipping around the entire rooftop, each step taken from both of them destroying the area bit by bit.

To the untrained eye, it would seem like the two were phasing in and out, clashing ever so often, indicating that they were on par with one another.

In actuality, Goku was unable to do anything but to react defensively.

The issues he had been facing before were fighting the Shogun was simply emphasized even more now. He may have reset the status of the fight, but in no way was it in his favor, not in the slightest.

Having been hit by Raiden Shogun several times in the short period he had been on this new battlefield, Goku concluded that there was no point in continuing with fighting like this.

No matter how he looked at it, there was only one possible option left if he wanted to win this fight.

The Kamehameha.

Not a small one, and not one that was fired half-hazardly either, but a completely charged Kamehameha at his full strength.

Goku soared into the clouds above once he saw the slightest opportunity to, leaving the Raiden Shogun to gaze at him from below as he cupped both his arms together.

"KAA—"

A bluish white orb began to materialize, expanding ever so slowly as he maintained the flow of energy within it.

"MEEEEE—"

As he stopped ascending further into the clouds, Goku witnessed something unusual occuring with the Shogun.

A rift, not dissimilar to the one she had used before had opened up behind her, engulfing her whole body before disappearing entirely, taking along the ruler of Inazuma with it.

"HAAAAAAA—"

That meant she could appear anywhere at any moment, and he was more than confident the Shogun was going to be using her strongest attack.

Which was a relief for him, seeing as he didn't exactly want to fire a blast of such magnitude at the direction of Narukami Island, so this worked just fine for him.

Just then, dark clouds began to gather around his general location as lighting flickered across the sky, with thunder booming becoming ever so louder, as if it was accumulating for the climax of a grand event.

So the Raiden Shogun was going for a decisive attack as well, it seemed.

Knowing that there was no point in trying to locate her whereabouts through sensing her ki, Goku closed both his eyes as he relied on his basic senses to find any sort of disturbances in the air while he continued charging the Kamehameha.

"MEEEEEEEEEE—"

One...two...three...

Seconds passed as the orb within his palm expanded continuously from the amount of energy gathered.

He could feel it, this one exchange was going to determine the fight.

The very instant he heard the very familiar noise he had been acquainted with throughout this battle caused him to shift his body to his left, aiming both his arms toward the origin of the noise.

Opening both his eyes, Goku was welcomed by the sight of the Shogun zipping out of the rift, her sword being uncomfortably close to his person.

"HAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Goku finally released the Kamehameha as the energy wave engulfed the Raiden Shogun entirely in its blast as it shot through the sky like a beam of light in darkness.

At first, his opponent was pushed back by the initial force, and continued to do so for a bit, proving that even she couldn't simply just waved off the Kamehameha.

The longer he fired it however, the more he slowly came to a startling realization.

Though it worked at first, the Raiden Shogun was no longer being pushed back by the energy wave, rather standing tall as she endured the blast.

Then she began moving little by little.

With each step forward, lightning crackled even louder than before as it gathered into one source.

Her sword.

As such, even his Kamehameha was slowly being resisted as he could feel the flow of electro coursing through his technique, like it was trying to tear it apart.

It was ridiculous.

Yet...somehow...for some absurd reason.

Goku was letting out a toothy grin at this new development, like the negative ramifications of it did not bother him at all.

All he was focusing on was that he absolutely had to expend every bit of energy that he had, lest he wanted a certainty of his defeat.

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!" Goku yelled out at the top of lungs as his entire body lunged forward.

The wave became even bigger as a result, staggering the Raiden Shogun backwards from the sudden increase in power.

As she struggled to take another step, Goku saw the one action he was not expecting from her.

Her left arm poked outside the range of his Kamehameha as she forcefully pushed it out, accompanied by the sword that she wielded in her hand.

She then started the motion of her slash…

All it took was one instance.

She pushed through the Kamehameha wave despite the clear difficulties she was having before and had somehow escaped his technique, as if time itself had stopped in that one singular moment.

And once she completed her sword technique, she stood right behind him, blade in hand.

Before he could register what was going, blood spluttered from his mouth as multiple bolts of lightning struck him dead center, only for them to not merely hit him, but slashing Goku in all kinds of angles.

Barely hanging onto the air as his condition worsened, Goku was about to turn towards the Raiden Shogun to try and attempt any attack he could muster.

But he was never able to.

A pillar of lightning descended from above as it struck him down, as if the heavens themselves were trying to punish him.

The combined backward force of the Kamehameha wave and the Shogun's sword technique shot him past the Electro Archon and fell into the waters near Narukami Island, with trails of his blood being splattered across the winds of Inazuma.

Once the Raiden Shogun could no longer see the form of Son Goku, she looked up to the sky above, the once dark sky returning back to a calm blue.

"In the end, your reason to fight was transitory, for the only constant is eternity," she proclaimed simply.

But just as she finished that particular sentence, she noticed the use of her left arm had become weak, as she held the blade Musou Isshin with some difficulty.

Perhaps this body needed more adjustments than the one within predicted.

In a location in the middle of the ocean, a single ship could be seen from the shores of Amakane Island, a location north-west of Inazuma City.

And on that peculiar ship, there were many individuals running about, ensuring that their sail was smooth and sailing. Even amidst the number of individuals on it however, there were two that stood out in particular.

"Huh, that was certainly something you don't see everyday. What's your expert take on it, Kazuha?" a woman asked, having seen the sudden change in the clouds just now.

"Though I cannot quite say what exactly was the origin of that beam of light...there is no doubt in my mind that what we witnessed at the end was the Musou no Hitotachi," the young man said with certainty in his tone of voice.

One that was even stronger than what he had perceived the first time, if memory recalled.

"What makes you so sure?" she asked curiously.

"I was able to hear it, the ever distinct sound of that sword technique is a reminder of that fateful day."

The woman folded both her arms across her chest, "If so, guess we got our guy then, hopefully he hasn't gone to the deep end yet. Sangonomiya sure was lucky, asking us for a favor when we were already en route to Watatsumi island. If not, this Goku probably wouldn't have been found at all…then again, she did provide us with a lot of descriptions and possible locations."

"Yes, Her Excellency was very thorough on the many actions of this Son Goku, even having the prediction that his challenge towards the Raiden Shogun would be the highest possibility of them all."

Kazuha was interested in this new individual that had stumbled across the waters of Watatsumi, doubly so since even the divine priestess had personally seen to this matter by asking such a favor from the captain of this ship.

Just from listening to explanations from Her Excellency on the actions that Son Goku had undertaken, he wondered if this individual would be the one to reactivate a Vision that once belonged to his friend?

"We better hurry and get to Inazuma City then. It's gonna be a hassle trying to find this guy if we're too late by then."

And that was even if he was still alive in the first place.

"There should be no trouble in finding his current whereabouts, as I believe a wanderer such as myself has both the eyes and ears in easing the process once we land on shore. "

The implication was not lost on her, as Kazuha obviously wanted to participate in the search, "For a guy who's a fugitive, you sure are relaxed about walking around Inazuma."

Kazuha merely gave her polite smile in response, "Perhaps it is because Captain Beidou and everyone else on the Alcor is beside me this time around, that I have a safe reassurance even if matters go awry."

Beidou simply rolled her eyes, but nonetheless returned his smile. She then called out to the other crew members, issuing their new destination, "Full speed ahead! Men, we're heading to Inazuma City!"

Every member of the crew cheered as they made preparations to increase the speed of their sail, with the captain of said crew standing ever so confidently as she gazed towards their destination, while the fugitive gazed at the boundless sky, reminiscing on events that only he knew of.

"Whew, we sure got out of that one in one piece, right guys?" Genta said in relief, as he turned to the other members of the Arataki Gang.

Currently, the four were still standing on that same spot they were at when they had distracted the Tenryou Commission to help their newest member sneak into Tenshukaku.

Akira nodded in agreement, "Yeah, good thing they couldn't find a good excuse to arrest us for once."

Meanwhile, Mamoru noticed something off with their leader, who had strangely been quiet ever since the Tenryou Commission had left them alone, "Hey boss, what's bothering you?"

Noticing that he was being called by Mamoru,"...when we were having that amazing debate with those guys in the Tenryou Commission earlier, which we totally won by the way, did the sky turn dark for any of you?"

The trio looked towards one another for a brief moment, before turning back to Itto as Mamoru was the first to speak among them, "Yeah, I definitely saw that. I was so scared I wanted to crawl up into a rock and hide myself, especially with all that thunder and lightning going around."

"Was it just me, or did everything become super bright for like a couple of seconds back there?"

"Right? I think even those Tenryou Commission guys were pretty surprised by that...maybe that's why they left early?"

"Heh, that's probably because of our new member Goku," Itto stated as if it were a matter of fact, turning up his nose.

The three blinked, not quite sure their leader was right in that assessment.

Upon seeing their doubtful expression, Itto reassured himself and them that he was no doubt right in his guess, "I mean, who else could have done it guys? Heh, I bet he just had a really great talk with the Electro Archon, and they just decided to duke it out to settle the score."

As he confidently declared such a statement, a loud splashing sound could be heard from their location, causing all four to turn towards the source of the sudden intrusion.

"Boss, do you...think that was Goku just now?"

He could have laughed it off, but his gut was telling him that what Akira said just now could quite possibly be true, "We won't know until we check. Come on!" he beckoned the others as they followed their leader.

As they reached the shore, the Arataki Gang stopped in their tracks as they gazed into the ocean for an abnormality unlike any other they had seen before.

The water before them...were filled with electro energy coursing through it, with sparks flying off the surface of the body of water, accompanied by an ever pulsating ripple in the middle of such a scene.

Itto hesitated upon seeing such a sight, that was...until his eyes settled on a particular spot.

It was stained with blood.

"That's it, I'm diving in," Itto declared in frustration as he took a step forward, dipping his right foot into the water.

The other three tried to stop their leader, as they believed that this action would be too reckless even for him.

Goku struggled to open his eyes as he felt his body drifting into the sea, for all he could see was nothing but the deep ocean's blue.

He tried to move any part of his body, yet it was to no avail.

He could still feel the electro energy coursing through his body, constantly dimming his senses with each passing second.

He had neither strength to move, nor the capacity to ponder anymore. All he could perceive was the cold yet uninviting sensation, and the ever looming darkness beneath him.

He wondered...if this was what his best friend Kuririn thought of when he died?

Goku's thoughts ceased as he slowly closed both his eyes, submerging himself even deeper into the endless ocean.

AN: I am preemptively standing by the decision of Goku losing this fight and I won't change it in no shape or form in terms of the results. Some may argue about the last part of the battle or bring up the whole Kamesennin blowing up the moon argument again. That is valid, but at the same time, the automaton is built to last against erosion itself, so I really don't think it's that easy to take the Shogun out. That's not even mentioning the whole fighting for 500 years straight thing. Plus, there's no story for me to tell if it ends right here.

Speaking of, let's talk about the plot for a bit. This section, or more specifically Goku's defeat may make some think that this is just following the plot of the Archon Quest, which is fair. I'm gonna be honest, some parts of this story will have some beats that are identical, but I hope I've and will make it different enough to make you not think it's too samey, whether right now or in the future. By no means am I trying to undermine the original game's Archon Quest for Inazuma, or am I trying to say I can write better than it. I'm just glad if someone finds this entertaining to read.

Last point, as the story progresses, more and more playable characters are going to appear. Here's the thing, compared to the original Archon Quest to this story, some characters here are going to have a more prominent role (like Kokomi), some have bigger participation (like Itto who has none in the original), and a few might not even appear until after the whole thing with Vision Hunt Decree is solved. That's just how it is going to be because I have plans for those that do appear in this part of the story…mostly.