Chapter 5: Double Crisis
Three possessed women throw a cubic of Katchin at Hachiman in unison which Hachiman easily killed its momentum with his palm as it fall to the ground.
"Tch. Then how about this?" said possessed Yui as her seven pointed star pupils glowed as she jumped into the falling Katchin's shadow and disappeared.
"Now I can ambush him from the blind spot." thought Seven Stars dragon.
*Swift*
*Boom*
"Kyaaahh—!?" screamed possessed Yui.
"How about what?" said Hachiman.
Right after possessed Yui's existence vanished after jumping into the shadow, she immediately appeared from Hachiman's shadow as if she came out of it to ambush Hachiman.
But unbeknownst to Seven Stars dragon that Hachiman did read his mind and already cautious about his ambush beforehand.
Right after possessed Yui popped out from Hachiman's shadow, Hachiman used portal opening technique, pointed his palm at her and swiftly pinned her down to the ground with gravity dominating technique before turning his attention to her.
"Huff…huff…" panted possessed Yui before her consciousness left her.
However, possessed Yui channeled more power and concentration on her ability while being pinned down and eventually sunk into her own shadow and then reappeared from the shadow of the cubic Katchin.
But the damage from Hachiman's surprise attack is too much to endure so possessed Yui being put in an exhausted state already.
"Am I fighting with Gecko Moria?" thought Hachiman.
"Seven Stars. Is it just me or he's more and more useless like his host?" thought Six Stars dragon.
"Even with Shadowstitch ability he still failed to capture Hikigaya Hachiman. What a waste of ability." thought Two Stars dragon.
"A real life Gecko Moria. What's next? Smash them with sea prism stones, perhaps?" thought Hachiman after reading enemies' mind.
"If one isn't enough then how about three." said possessed Yukino.
After saying that, possessed Yukino raised her hand to the sky and formed large amounts of rainy clouds and sprayed the rain down on everything around her while possessed Shizuka heavily inhaled and then exhaled large amounts of smoke and spread them around her. Only possessed Yui jumped into a nearby shadow on the surface and disappeared.
"What a pain…" muttered Hachiman while performing Zamasu stance on the sky facing two possessed women.
Despite the fact that Hachiman regards three of them as retards but he knew that they aren't that weak. To be honest, abilities asides, even if he considered their power level alone, each of them are on Kefla level, especially possessed Shizuka who is on Legendary Super Saiyan Kefla level, which he definitely can't defeat them without using his godly human transformation.
"Incoming. Prepare yourself! Yahhh…!" said possessed Yukino and Shizuka.
However, after that, they, minus possessed Yui, faced Hachiman head-on.
"Yes, keep it up. The more you shower my rain, the more advantages we get." thought Six Stars dragon as he made Yukino charged at Hachiman with Aikido moves.
"Once my smoke took effects you will be more or less immovable yet perfect vessel to us Shadow Dragons." thought Two Stars dragon as she made Shizuka charged at Hachiman with Karate moves.
"Gross!" internally screamed Hachiman with his face distorted in disgust and shook away all incoming attacks.
But Hachiman suddenly retreated midway much to his enemies' confuse.
"Running away already?" said possessed Yukino.
"Look like there's a lot of things I have to do to educate this guy on how to give up." said possessed Shizuka.
"That Yuigahama. She can even erased her ki while hiding. I have to find her first or else I can't relieve." thought Hachiman.
After running across the sky and being chased for a while, Hachiman realized what's the possessed women Yukino and Shizuka meant by their thought; The rain drained the ki as if it washed them away little by little while the smoke jammed ki functions.
But the most important part isn't because Hachiman's slowly affected by those abilities, it's because he can't afford to go all out just to end up killing them while their hosts involved with them
"He visibly weakened. Once he's run out of resistance I will capture him and make him a vessel. But before that I will make him pay for all those humiliations." thought Seven Stars.
"Oh there you are." muttered Hachiman while grinning.
"Wahhh—-?!" said possessed Yui.
Hachiman used portal opening in the middle of sky which made possessed Yui falling out of the wormhole unwarned.
Although possessed Yui is capable of flight but it still capable to surprise her. However, she still managed to not end up like how she was last time.
"They didn't plan it beforehand. They're all aiming for me on their own way but the result is just like a perfect plan. What a scary, troublesome enemies. In that case…" thought Hachiman.
Hachiman suddenly stop his motion for a moment which makes the possessed women thought that their chance has arrived.
"Got you!" x3
"Ha!" shouted Hachiman.
"Wha—?!" x3
"This guy… still has this much power stored up." said possessed Yui.
"Even though he's weakened by my rain he still this strong." said possessed Yukino.
"To think that he's able to use god of destruction's technique this skillfully. We definitely have to make him our vessel at all cost." said possessed Shizuka.
Hachiman's god ki raising even higher and released them in the form of kiai which is in fact destruction technique he used in order to destroy all the rainy clouds and smoke that his enemies created without harming the bodies of Yui, Yukino and Shizuka too much.
"Look like I went too easy on you guys for the sake of consideration of your hosts. Now I guess I have to take some risk and be more merciless then. Haaahh…!" said Hachiman as he powered up further in an instant.
Getting more serious, Hachiman formed a halo on his back. However, it is different from the usual one where it is two layers of circles. This time the halo has three layers of circle which contains an eighteen-pointed star which its edges passed through the contained circle, not to mention that on his wrists and ankles also has halos with simple two circles on them each.
"What's that form? I have no idea he can do that." thought Two Stars dragon.
It's natural that she thought like that since even though all of Shadow dragons have knowledge about almost everything that take place before they were summoned, they're supposed to know Hachiman in and out, but anything that take place afterward, in other word, Hachiman's ability to read mind and his new form, aren't included in their knowledge.
After reading that thought, Hachiman's halo on the back turned from white to dark purple and released the energy which caused the atmosphere to change in the same way as how Kale does when she transformed into her Legendary Super Saiyan.
"Let's begin the first fight of Hikigaya Zachiman 'Transcended'." said Hachiman.
"Transcended?" x3 in confusion.
Even after saying that, Hachiman only spreaded his arm left and right as if he was stitched with the crucifix.
"Guwaaahh…?! Hey! Why did you attack me?!" groaned possessed Yukino.
"Eh? What? Ack…?! What's the big idea, attacking me out of the blue?" said possessed Shizuka.
"Eh? No, I di— Gak?! What's the point of attacking me?!" whined possessed Yui.
Suddenly, possessed Shizuka shot ki wave at possessed Yukino who is then being punched in the gut by possessed Yui who is powered up and then being kicked in the gut by possessed Yukino who just barely recovered and powered up.
Three of them are keeping attack each other without even be able to catch a glimpse of what actually happened to them, nor the thought that it was Hachiman's doing have never crossed their mind even once.
The unknown internal strife of three possessed women continued to the point where their bodies hit the limit.
"What have I been doing?" thought three Shadow Dragons as they trying their best to make their hosts held themselves up altogether.
*Swift*
"Now the real bet begin." said Hachiman.
"Wha—?! Gak?!" x3
After floating in the sky unmoved for a long time, Hachiman teleported to the three possessed women, covered his fist with energy of destruction and punched three of them in the gut consecutively.
"THAT'S HURT LIKE HELL!" screamed Yui in agony before collapsing on the ground.
"I thought I almost die…" said Yukino who lost her strength almost completely.
"Never in my life… that I get punched… this hard…" groaned Shizuka.
"Impossible! The possession is broken?!" said the Seven Stars dragon.
"How can that be?!" said the Six Stars dragon.
"This is absurd." said the Two Stars dragon.
After being punched by Hachiman's fist cladded in energy of destruction, the life link that bind Shadow Dragons and their hosts are destroyed and the evil ki left the three women and formed into three giant different dragons on the sky.
"Now I can go all out. Prepare yourself to be destroyed." said Hachiman as his ki is skyrocketing and teleported to the three dragons while attempted to perform destruction technique.
"Damn you Hikigaya Hachiman." said Seven Stars dragon.
"After finishing off that lousy Ozotto, you're next." said Six Stars dragon.
"We'll let you off the hook this time." said Two Stars dragon.
After saying that, all three dragons left the earth on their own with quick warnings and complaints.
"Brings it on. I will make sure to make you parasitic dragons pay for shortening my precious sleeping time into the chaos." said Hachiman, irritated.
You might question why Hachiman letting his enemies go instead of finishing them off.
Well, there's many reasons for that.
Hachiman is indeed have enough power to destroy those three dragons when he's at his best.
Yeah. When he's at his best, which he isn't today.
Hachiman is never a morning person so he isn't fully charged, not to mention that he didn't eat his breakfast yet. On top of that, even if it's only a little, the rain and smoke created by his enemies did affect him, not to mention that he has performed destruction technique several times afterward. So logically speaking, his attempt to destroy the three dragons when their true forms left the hosts is pretty much a bluff to make sure the dragons left as soon as possible, giving the dragons' size there's no way Hachiman could finish them off without having his surroundings get caught into it.
Even though he wanted to obliterate those dragons right away more than anyone, he can't afford to let other people die because of his selfish decision.
"Although this technique is useful but it's really exhausted the hell out of me. Well, that's to be expected from the idea invented by Zaimokuza." complained Hachiman while healing the unconscious Yui, Yukino, and Shizuka.
The technique Hachiman referring to, is one of Morigi Zateru's ultimate techniques thought by Zaimokuza Yoshiteru; A technique that destroy the thought procession of people and dominate them, making them not even noticed that they were already dominated, nor figure out the domination process on their own.
However, Hachiman's domination is the result of ki manipulation and destruction technique which resulting in similar outcomes.
When Hachiman ascended to his 'Transcended' form and created a phenomenon similar to Kale's transformation, his ki is spreaded and anyone who bathed it will be affected.
The ki spreaded by Hachiman's technique has two functions; the god ki will perform destruction on one's thought procession and the connection between body and thoughts so any kind of plans in one's mind are all meaningless against it while the mortal ki will be a replacement for the destroyed connection and command the mindless body which result in undetectable domination once affected.
However, this is the first time Hachiman using this technique in the combat as he only test it on Kamakura and it was easier in comparison.
In the recent combat he has to make sure he didn't overuse the destruction technique or else Yui, Yukino and Shizuka would have their soul destroyed accidentally while making them exhausted each other so he could minimize the risk of failing in using his destruction technique to destroy the connection between the Shadow Dragons and their hosts.
In order to perform all of these with minimal flaw, the unbelievably concentration is needed which is the reason why didn't move the entire time after the ascension of his 'Transcended' form but still exhaust him to the core.
"I guess I have to skip school today." said Hachiman as he left after carrying the three women, put them into Yukino's room in her apartment using portal opening technique, finish healing them and headed back to his house in his own mortal form.
Yui, Yukino and Shizuka slowly woke up afterward and insurmountable joyous from having their bodies become theirs again emerged from their faces.
But not so long their joyful moment stopped.
After being possessed by shadow dragons and be freed from their possession thanks to Hachiman's destruction technique, the effects of Dragon Balls that altered their memories about him are completely destroyed as well.
Shizuka, being the hottest head among the three, took out her phone and planned to contact Hachiman to talk things out only to find out that Hachiman texted her that he's not feeling well so he will have to skip school today.
Normally, Shizuka would never give any of her student a permission to skip school because of such reason like what she received via text but she made an exception this time, considering that he saved her and her student's lives.
However, three of them don't plan to let Hachiman gets off the hook forever as they have a mutual thought at the moment.
"I'll definitely make you spill all the beans you've kept from us someday, Hikigaya/Hikigaya-kun/Hikki."
(Narrator POV Ended)
(The next day, Planet Salada, Cabba POV)
"What in the world is this?" I said.
Some kind of lightnings suddenly appeared out of nowhere and keep striking at everything on Planet Salada.
This is not the ordinary lightning, each strike contained enough destructive power to easily kill the like of Magetta-san with ease.
"I have a bad feeling about this. I need to figure it out as soon as possible or else Planet Salada will be destroyed." I said to myself.
There's a possibility that these lightning might be generated from somewhere on Planet Salada or nearby planet. I must find it and put an end to it.
I keep searching for it based on the intensity of the lightning.
The more I searching, the more I was overwhelmed.
Even though they're faint, I can sense a little bit of Kale-san's ki mixed in there.
Don't tell me that she's going berserk again?
Now that … um who is it again that isn't here. I could remember that he's my teammate during the tournament of power but couldn't recall who he is but I have a feeling that he's the one who can fix Kale. Argh! Why can't I remember him?!
Whatever. Even if I can't remember him I still be able to ask Master Vegeta for help.
"HAAAAAAAHHHHH…!"
This voice. It's really her. Damn it. Why did Caulifla-san let this happen?
Don't tell me that Caulifla-san got murdered in front of Kale-san's eyes and resulting in this?!
I finally arrived to the source of the lightning just to find Caulifla-san on the verge of dead and having her neck grabbed by Kale-san in her Legendary Super Saiyan form.
But something not right. The ki isn't what hers supposed to be. I can sense two evil kis from her. Not to mention that Kale-san who is supposed to be a berserker when took on this form is not that berserk at all.
And what's wrong with her pupils, instead of disappeared like they supposed to be, her left one has a three pointed star shape while her right one has a five pointed star shape.
"Haaahh…!" I screamed as I powered up to my strongest form and shot the ki wave technique I learned from Master Vegeta to Kale-san's wrist on impulse.
I might got killed by Caulifla-san after doing that but this isn't the time to concern about that.
However, I don't know I have to feel relieved or worried at the outcome.
Kale-san released her grip on Caulifla-san which freed her but my attack only did a mosquito level of scratches on Kale-san's wrist.
I quickly rescued Caulifla-san and heal her with the ability that I was granted during the tournament of power.
"Thanks for healing me, Cabba. But can you leave my belly alone already?" said Caulifla.
I quickly retreated my hand from her with a quick apology. Well, can't be help since it's so sudden.
"Now how can I deal with this. Even my strongest form couldn't do a thing." said Caulifla-san.
"Are you alright, Caulifla-san? Normally you would be more emotional whenever things involving Kale-san." I asked.
"I already did a whole freaking lot of that before you came for crying out loud, even screamed her name multiple times while being thrashed by her." said Caulifla-san, begrudgingly.
Yeah. That's Caulifla-san I know.
"Now I don't have any idea to deal with. What the heck are those orbs anyway?" complained Caulifla-san.
Hm? What?
"Wait? What do you mean by 'Orb'?" I asked.
"While I'm in the middle of sleeping, three unknown orbs just crashed into my house completely woke me up. So I asked Kale to takes care of those orbs for me and I resumed my sleeping. However, a moment after that, two orbs disappeared and she's like this before spreaded all those lightnings since then. I tried to stop her but it's no use. She's neither snapped back nor even let me near her." said Caulifla-san.
I was left speechless. I didn't know how to act at all. What in the world is this?
"Wha—?! What are you doing Caulifla-san?" I asked.
*Boom*
"This isn't the time to space out, you Salada Force idiot. Do you think she will just standing there and do nothing?" scolded Caulifla-san.
So she grabbed my head and hammered it down to the ground to save me from Kale-san's attack.
I better be more cautious around her even more from now on if I don't want to lose any more brain cells.
"What the hell are you? What did you do to Kale-san?" I asked Kale-san which earned 'Are you an idiot?' glare from Caulifla-san.
I know that but it's not that hurt to try my luck, isn't it? More informations is a must right now after all.
"We're shadow dragons and both of us possess this woman so she can serve as our life insurance." answered Kale-san with overlapping two unfamiliar voices.
"Shadow dragons?" I said.
"Don't screw with me! Of all things she has to be, Kale has to be you f*ckers' insurance?! Don't you dare kidding me! Give me back my Kale this instant!" shouted Caulifla-san as she shot ki wave at Kale-san.
"Wait Caulifla-san." I said.
"WAAAAAHHH…!" shouted possessed Kale-san.
*Boom*
"You're really a muscle brain among Saiyans on this planet. No matter how much you attack it won't even left a scratch on me, even with Saiyan's helltrait." said possessed Kale-san.
It is as she said. The vibration of her voice alone is enough to reduce Caulifla-san's attacks to nothingness.
"Wh-what's the hell is this?!" said Caulifla-san.
"My ki… is rollercoastered…" I said.
Both Caulifla-san and I kept switching between our regular form and Super Saiyan form without our own consents.
Don't tell me that the vibration of her voice can even malfunctioning her foes' ki controlling?
If so, then something isn't right.
With this much difference in power and these formidable abilities, shadow dragons or whatever that take control of Kale-san should be able to kill Caulifla-san with ease even before I arrived, not to mention destroy the whole Planet Salada in no time after successfully possessed Kale-san.
Even now, instead of killing us, shadow dragons only make Kale-san chased and attacking us while making sure that we won't easily died. Is it because Kale-san resist them despite having her own body conquered? Or it is something else?
Then I remember something Caulifla-san said. She said that two out of three orbs disappeared.
"Caulifla-san. This might be a stupid question but what happened to the third orb? You said three crashed into your place but only two disappeared." I asked.
"Like hell I would give a damn about that after seeing what's going on with Kale!" replied Caulifla-san.
Well, that's logical reason. However,…
"If my deduction is right. Kale-san being like that is due to those orbs. Maybe those orbs are the shadow dragons themselves and somehow touching the orb is what allows the shadow dragons to take over one's body." I said.
"Is that so? However, what does that have anything to do with the missing orb anyway?" asked Caulifla-san.
Just how much of a muscle brain idiot you are?
Shadow dragons successfully in possessed Kale-san and they probably powerful enough to destroy us whenever they want. However, they chose not to do that. Not to mention that they did mention that they made Kale into their life insurance after possession. Which probably means…
"They tried to beat you up until your resistance reached zero and make you touch the missing orb afterward so that you'll be another life insurance for shadow dragons just like Kale-san." I said.
"Wh-what?!" said Caulifla-san.
"Yeah. And you who arrived here to save her sorry butt just conveniently ruined the plan. However, there's no need to rely on that plan anymore." said possessed Kale.
"What?" I asked.
"When did you…? Released me you damn jerk dragon!" shouted Caulifla-san.
"Oh crap! Uwaaaaahhh…!" I said before I was blown away.
A red dragon appeared from the behind and captured Caulifla-san as well as blown me with its fire breath.
(A/N: The appearance of dragon is similar to Zeroth Dragon of Inferno, Drachma)
"The appearance and body size of our true forms are too outstanding so we always reluctantly doing this. But if we can make you guys distracted long enough that we can capture any of you by ourselves then we can do a direct possession without luring the prey to touch us." said the red shadow dragon.
"Also, we, shadow dragons, have to make sure our preys won't be able go self-destruct themselves before the possession completed so we have to beat them up first." said possessed Kale-san.
So that's why…
"Now that I know it I won't let you have Caulifla-san!" I said as I fired ki blast at dragon's eyes.
"Now that's savage." said the red shadow dragon.
As expected, he dodged it but this might be enough to distract him and let me save Caulifla-san. Now I only have to pray that this mission will succeed despite my ki controlling problems.
*Boom*
"Wha—?! What are you doing Caulifla-san?" I said.
When I'm going to rescue Caulifla-san, she shot a flashy ki wave at me.
"Have you forgotten about Kale? She's ready to ambush you!" barked Caulifla-san.
"Tch. You're not an ordinary muscle brain Saiyan, I see." said possessed Kale-san as she covered her eyes.
It's just as she said. However, that's Caulifla-san for you. She's able to adjust her ki controlling while I couldn't and make the right judgment in this situation which reminded me again of the fact that she's a prodigy.
"Now leave Cabba." said Caulifla-san.
"Eh? but—" I said.
"No buts! Get your butts outta here and seeking help from your so proud connections to kick these jerks' butts already! It's not like I'm going to die anyway! Uwaaaaahhh…!" shouted Caulifla-san before groaning in pain as the body of the dragon fused together with hers which caused her pupils to turn four pointed star shape.
I see. There's no way both of us could survive this matter together and there's no way Caulifla-san could seeking help on her own if she was the survivor so she let me survive instead.
"Caulifla-san. Your effort won't be in vain!" I said as I left.
I have to head to Planet earth immediately.
Master Vegeta. Please be there!
(Cabba POV Ended)
(Hikigaya Hachiman POV)
It's really troublesome to cover up the incident from yesterday with my family since there's no way they'll just blindly bought "everyone just happened to oversleep" as an appreciable fact so I told them that everyone just passed out from having their bodies hit thanks to earthquake.
I know it's also sound stupid as well but it's still more convincing.
Why, you asked? Thanks to yesterday's battle that earthquake occurred on so many places that yesterday and today's news even mentioned them so they buy that (although they're already knocked out before the incident though).
However, this is Hikigaya Household we're talking about, they might have said that they're convinced but in reality that is nothing but a verbal reply. All of them still doubt my words deep down especially Komachi which I already confirmed it with my ESPer ability.
My parents won't mind me that much anyway but Komachi, on the other hand, won't let me off the hook that easily.
And today's event proved me right.
Hiratsuka-sensei summoned her to the Service Club which is now temporarily closed as it turned into a court session for me.
Yukinoshita, who supposed to brew tea and serve them to everyone, prepared tomato juice for today.
Is this how people treat their savior nowadays?
"Hikigaya-kun. Now you've to explain yourself. And don't think you're allowed to play dumb here."
"I give you a permission to take a break yesterday as a gratitude but now you don't have that anymore."
"Onii-chan. Run away and tomatoes will be the only thing on your meal list for the rest of your life."
"Please Hikki."
Now I can relate myself with Saigi Makoto when his selfie photo is sent to SID.
Well, if Komachi even go so far as to making all my dishes filled with tomatoes for the rest of my life then I give up.
"Alright. But there's one thing I need to make sure beforehand. I need to know how much did you guys know about me or else I don't know where I should started." I replied.
After hearing the explanations from all four of them I have come to conclusion that all of their memories (except Komachi's) regarding me when Zamasu and I are still merging have returned to them completely.
If Komachi is the only one whose memory is still altered while the rest aren't then it has something to do with destruction technique.
When I destroyed the connection between them and shadow dragons, the alterations in their memories are probably coincidentally caught in too, resulting in their real memories surfaced.
"That's a way to killing time to explain things to your sister as well, Hikigaya. However, wouldn't it be easier if you just fix her memories like how you do with us?" asked Hiratsuka-sensei.
"I don't think so. Right now Komachi already have all the necessary information she needs, pursing for more will only put her life into danger." I said.
"Why?" asked Komachi.
"The technique that fix their memories is just an investment from the destruction technique that I used to destroy the connection between them and those shadow dragons so that they could be freed from them. However, that is still not changed the fact that it's a pure luck that things work out well and they're safe." I said.
"Then what will happen if you failed?" asked Hiratsuka-sensei.
"It's a destruction technique. A little missteps and the target's literal soul might be caught in destruction. As if I could use that on my beloved little sister to solve the problem." I said.
"But you still use it against us." said Yukinoshita.
"Comparing to let you guys be used as their meat shields, this is a better decision, isn't it? Also, helping you guys out is a part of my responsibility." I said which confused them all.
Originally, I planned to keep this from as I considered it a trivial thing but since they're involved with me to this point then I have to reveal them.
After an hour of answering their doubts, their expression is that of a complexion.
I can't blame them. Being told about the existence of the gods and tournament of power, normal people would take that anyone who told them that has to share the same mind as Zaimokuza's.
However, although they're normal people, they did experience something like that themselves so they won't take it as a groundless story, especially when they witnessed my fight yesterday while having their bodies dominated.
"Well, now I understand that parts of your meanie jerks are due to that god. But you yourself really a meanie, making us beat each other to pulp yesterday." said Yuigahama.
"Considering what you guys put me through before I separated from Zamasu-sama you guys are pretty much deserve it. I almost lose count on how many times I have to restrain him from ripping off you guys' heads for your rudenesses." I said with slightly cold voice which caused three of them (except Komachi) to avert their eyes from me.
And then suddenly I felt that something reached the earth.
This ki. Cabba?
Why is he coming here? With his memories about me supposed to be altered, he shouldn't have any reason to be here.
Don't tell me…
WHY ALIENS THESE DAYS KEEP VISITING THE WRONG EARTH?!
A/N: Chapter 5 for you readers. Please enjoy.