Dragon Ball STEP! (Securing Time's Eternal Prosperity)

by StillNoUsername

About 3 "colorful" schmucks brimming with potential, all hailing from different timelines and packing some major dark backstories, are snatched from the jaws of death and brought into Conton City. Will they learn to love their new home, get vastly stronger, and make the multiverse a better place? Will they even try? Tune in and find out!

82. Love Is A Deathless Soul!

[ OP: Nano – Magenta ]

Love Is A Deathless Soul! Two Iron Wills Collide on Planet Vegeta!

---

The world had become a room.

Her companionship numbered six. Greyed statues of what were once men and women, emptied of their spirits. They denied of afterlife, she now upheld the duty of becoming their universe. Their sun, her own ever-burning life essence. In another dozen decades, she'd join her predecessors in the same seated sculpt, hands outstretched as if bearing a gift, or passing off a stone.

The honor of such a life, she'd been taught since before words were more than sound to her, would be to once-again commune with the gods, like the founder of their order had, so long ago.

— A dream passed down for thousands of years. One outweighing lives, of her own and of those she'd been pit against from birth, to adolescence, to now. To create a god using mortal tools, one worthy of linking Earth with Heaven.

So to uphold that sacred dream, she'd remain in her cold, dark, tiny world, harnessing and cultivating her inherited energy until that blessed day arrived.

And then her world was torn apart.

It was like the roar of an avalanche, thrown into her face. Smoke and debris smothered her senses and clogged her lungs amidst her losing struggle to reorientate and quell her panic.

And then she opened her eyes.

Millions of candles. No, billions. All spiraling around one, colossal light source in the high void above the white mountains of her home.

She sought a word for it. The fewer that came to mind, the greater her desire grew, and she struggled past the point of frustration to piece something together. "Beautiful," "Splendid," "Satisfactory," "Special," "Chosen…" not even "Divine" seemed to cut it.

— the land of the gods. It had to be.

As she pressed, a great pod cracked open, releasing clouds of dark smoke into the sky and hiding the countless lights from her view, forcing her away from her trance. Slowly coming into view, a hunched silhouette presented itself. Behind it, a tail that thrashed at the open air, as the fangs within its smoking maw glistened in the light.

It then stumbled out of the pod in a wheezing fit.

She watched, enamored by what she could make out to be a man with a monkey's tail, sputtering and pleading for his mother as his reddened eyes pooled with tears falling down his scrunching countenance.

The woman rose steadily, for the first time in years, just to sate the new curiosity that'd knocked her vow right out of her.

"Hello…?"

The howling monkey man froze, in sight and sound alike. His eyes slowly drifted to her, and they locked a gaze.

"... Hey, gorgeous," he purred, lying seductively. His attempt to hide a cough didn't go unnoticed.

"... are you sick?"

"Sick!?" The eccentric took it as a cue, using his tail to kip onto his feet. "You're mistaken! I am…!" He leapt onto the top of his craft, in an overdramatic flip sequence. "Conqueror of the stars, Seeker of the unjust and overblown, Master of the Wicked Gene and Savior of the weak!"

He struck a diagonal, splayed-arm pose. "I am… ZUKKI!"

"..."

"..."

"... Ah."

He'd completely forgotten about the dire nature of his situation.

A woman had made a cute noise at him and now she was all that mattered in life.

"HONORED SU'UN!"

"Uh-oh!" Zukki somersaulted off his pod, hoisted it over his head, and leapt into the sky. Seconds later, eight jet black-haired warriors clad in armored robes landed by her side.

"An intruder!? How!?"

"Nothing short of an arrow from Heaven could penetrate those walls! What madness is this!?"

"My lady, behind what's left! You mustn't stop channeling, even now!"

"Are you alright, mistress?"

Su'un slowly snapped out of her trance, and nodded with a dejected sloth. "... mh." She did as directed by the guard, retreating back to the dark as one of them reformed the broken wall – and the mountainside concealing it – with a focused hand, sheet after sheet returning to its place, metal forms straightening. She eyed the stars once more before her own light encaged her.

---

A faint red dot pierced the dim room.

A sound like steaming food accompanied it, and grew louder alongside the dot's rising size and intensity, until finally, it faded entirely.

Spokes of light from the sky danced their way into her chamber. Peeking out from after them,

"... ᴏɪ - ʏᴏ."

The tailed man. Hanging from said tail.

"Ah!"

His face broke out into a smile, as if against his will, before he quelled himself. "ʟᴇᴛ's ᴋᴇᴇᴘ ɪᴛ ǫᴜɪᴇᴛ. ᴛʜᴏsᴇ ɢᴜʏs ᴏᴜᴛsɪᴅᴇ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ʙᴇ ᴀ ᴘᴀɪɴ ᴛᴏ ʙᴜᴛᴛ ʜᴇᴀᴅs ᴡɪᴛʜ. ʟɪᴛᴇʀᴀʟʟʏ."

"How did…! ʜᴏᴡ ᴅɪᴅ ʏᴏᴜ sʟɪᴘ ᴘᴀsᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ɢᴜᴀʀᴅ!?"

"ɪ ɢᴜᴇss ᴛʜᴇʏ'ʀᴇ ɴᴏᴛ ᴜsᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ sᴇɴsɪɴɢ ᴛʜɪɴɢs ᴛʜᴀᴛ'ʀᴇ ʜɪᴅɪɴɢ ғʀᴏᴍ ᴛʜᴇᴍ." He raised… or lowered, depending on how you see it… his snow and dirt-covered hands. "ʜᴇʟᴘs ᴛʜᴀᴛ ɪᴛ's ᴊᴜsᴛ sᴏғᴛ sᴛᴜғғ ʟɪᴋᴇ ʀᴏᴄᴋ ᴏᴜᴛsɪᴅᴇ, sᴏ I ᴊᴜsᴛ ᴜsᴇᴅ ᴍʏ ᴘᴀᴡs ᴛᴏ ᴅɪɢ ᴀ ᴘᴀᴛʜ!"

"ʙᴜᴛ ᴡʜʏ?"

"ᴡᴇʟʟ, ɪᴛ'ʟʟ ᴛᴀᴋᴇ ᴀ ᴡʜɪʟᴇ ғᴏʀ ᴍᴇ ᴛᴏ sᴀʟᴠᴀɢᴇ ᴇɴᴏᴜɢʜ ᴛᴏ ғɪx ᴜᴘ ᴍʏ sʜɪᴘ. ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ's ɴᴏᴛʜɪɴɢ ɪ'ᴅ ʀᴀᴛʜᴇʀ ᴅᴏ ᴏɴ ᴍʏ ᴏғғ-ᴛɪᴍᴇ ᴛʜᴀɴ sᴘᴇɴᴅ ɪᴛ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴀ ʟᴀᴅʏ ᴀs... ᴜᴍ... ᴡᴀɪᴛ ʜᴏʟᴅ ᴏɴ..." Zuki retreated out of sight. "ˢʷᵉᵉᵗᵉʳ ᵗʰᵃⁿ ʰᵒⁿᵉʸ, ᶜᵒᵘˡᵈ ᵖʳᵒᵇᵃᵇˡʸ ᵏᶦˡˡ ᵐᵉ ᶦᶠ ˢʰᵉ ʷᵃⁿᵗᵉᵈ...ʷᵒʳᵈ ᶠᵒʳ ˢᵗʳᵒⁿᵍ ᴬᴺᴰ ᶜᵘᵗᵉ, ʰᵘʰ…ˀ ᵘʰ... ᵃʰ, ˢᶜʳᵉʷ ᶦᵗ." He flung himself back upside down, aiming two finger-guns at Su'un. "ғʀᴏᴍ ᴀ ʟᴀᴅʏ ᴀs ᴀᴡᴇsᴏᴍᴇ ᴀs ʏᴏᴜ! ʙᴇsɪᴅᴇs, ɴᴏᴛ ᴇᴠᴇʀʏ ᴅᴀʏ ᴛʜᴀᴛ sᴏᴍᴇᴏɴᴇ ᴄᴀɴ sᴘᴇɴᴅ ᴛɪᴍᴇ ᴏɴ ᴇᴀʀᴛʜ ᴡɪᴛʜᴏᴜᴛ ɢᴇᴛᴛɪɴɢ ᴠᴀᴘᴏʀɪᴢᴇᴅ ɪɴ ᴏʀʙɪᴛ!"

Every time he opened his mouth, another question sprouted within her head. By the time he'd stopped, she'd been left with an overgrowth of them, clueless as to where she'd even begin. So she picked the one most exotic.

"... awesome?"

Before he could explain, footsteps from beneath them both approached.

Zukki sucked his teeth. "sʜᴏᴏᴛ...!" He paid her a goodbye glance. "sᴏʀʀʏ ɪ ᴄᴏᴜʟᴅɴ'ᴛ ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴛɪᴍᴇ ғᴏʀ ᴜs, ᴍs. sᴜ'ᴜɴ. ɪ'ʟʟ ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ɪᴛ ᴜᴘ ᴛᴏᴍᴏʀʀᴏᴡ. ᴘʀᴏᴍɪsᴇ!" He winked, and scampered back up the hole, covering his tracks as the outer world's light faded.

"... I…!"

The man had already vanished.

She shut her eyes, to once-again fall into a timeless trance. But the odd fellow now appeared every now and then. She began to wonder if he'd ever existed in the first place, and if their first meeting was simply a dream.

"THIEVES! AN IMPERIAL PEACH HAS BEEN STOLEN!"

---

Light crept into her chamber once again.

"ᴀɴʏᴏɴᴇ ʜᴏᴍᴇ?"

Her eyes snapped open. There the Zukki fellow was, now munching on a peach. "ᴏʜ, sᴜ'ᴜɴ! ʜᴏᴡ's ɪᴛ ʙᴇᴇɴ? ᴍɪss ᴍᴇ ᴀɴʏ?"

Questioning its existence wouldn't get her anywhere — she'd hear what she wanted to, or she'd shatter that quiet hope inside her head. It frustrated her.

"mmH-" His eyes burst wide, and he suddenly began beating on his chest, with odd gurgling sounds. "HOLY-"

She quelled herself, concerned. "Ah-"

He hacked a gnarled gob of peach into his hand, hesitated, and then ate it. "Mh-hm, sᴏ ᴜʜ, ʜᴏᴡ ᴛʜᴇ ʜᴇᴄᴋ ᴅɪᴅ ʏᴏᴜ ɢᴇᴛ ᴛʜᴀᴛ sᴛʀᴏɴɢ!?" Zukki asked with a notable rasp.

"... why do you want to know?"

"'ᴄᴜs ᴛʜᴀᴛ's ᴄʀᴀᴢʏ! ʜᴜᴍᴀɴs ᴛʜᴀᴛ sᴛʀᴏɴɢ ᴜsᴜᴀʟʟʏ ʜᴀᴠᴇ sʜɪɴʏ sᴛᴜғғ ᴏɴ ᴛʜᴇᴍ! ᴏʀ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇᴍ, ɪ ᴅᴜɴɴᴏ, ᴄʏʙᴏʀɢs ᴀʀᴇ ᴡᴇɪʀᴅ- ᴛʜ-ᴛʜᴀᴛ's ɴᴏᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴏɪɴᴛ! ɪ ᴀɴsᴡᴇʀᴇᴅ ǫᴜᴇsᴛɪᴏɴs ᴛᴏᴏ, ʜᴀᴠᴇɴ'ᴛ ɪ?"

She frowned, glancing beside herself. "ʏᴏᴜ ʜᴀᴠᴇ." Her gaze returned to his. "ɪ ʜᴀʀʙᴏʀ ᴛʜᴇ sɪx sᴏᴜʟs ᴏғ ᴍʏ ʜᴏɴᴏʀᴇᴅ ᴘʀᴇᴅᴇᴄᴇssᴏʀs. ᴀʟᴏɴɢsɪᴅᴇ ᴍʏ ᴏᴡɴ, ɪ ᴀᴍ ᴅᴜᴛɪᴇᴅ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴛʜᴇɪʀ ɴᴜʀᴛᴜʀɪɴɢ. ʟᴏɴɢ ʙᴇғᴏʀᴇ ᴍʏ ʙɪʀᴛʜ, ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴏsᴇ ʙᴇғᴏʀᴇ ᴍᴇ, ɪ ᴡᴀs ᴍᴀᴅᴇ ᴛᴏ ʙᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴇʀғᴇᴄᴛ ᴠᴇssᴇʟ, ᴀs ᴡᴀs ɪ ᴍᴀᴅᴇ ᴀғᴛᴇʀᴡᴀʀᴅ ᴛᴏ ᴘʀᴏᴠᴇ ᴍʏ ᴡᴏʀᴛʜ ᴛʜʀᴏᴜɢʜ ᴛʀɪᴀʟ."

Zukki was tempted to ask her to stop, but held back, curious as to how much she'd divulge out of nowhere. He simply sucked juice from his meal.

"ɪᴛ ᴡᴀs ᴏɴʟʏ ʀᴇᴄᴇɴᴛʟʏ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴍʏ ᴡᴏʀᴛʜ ᴡᴀs ᴘʀᴏᴠᴇɴ ᴀғᴛᴇʀ sʟᴀʏɪɴɢ ᴍʏ ᴄᴏᴍᴘᴇᴛɪᴛᴏʀs, ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ʜᴏɴᴏʀᴇᴅ sɪxᴛʜ ᴘᴀᴄᴇ ᴘᴇʀғᴏʀᴍᴇᴅ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴍᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ʀɪᴛᴜᴀʟ ᴏғ sᴘɪʀɪᴛ ᴛʀᴀɴsᴍɪɢʀᴀᴛɪᴏɴ. ɪ ᴀᴍ ᴏɴᴇ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴛʜᴇᴍ, ᴀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴛʜᴇʏ ᴍᴇ, ᴀɴᴅ ᴀs ᴛʜᴇ sᴇᴠᴇɴᴛʜ ᴘᴀᴄᴇ, ᴍʏ ᴘᴀssɪɴɢ ᴡɪʟʟ ʙʀɪɴɢ ᴏɴᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴏʀʟᴅ ᴀ ɢᴏᴅ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴄᴏɴɴᴇᴄᴛs ᴇᴀʀᴛʜ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ʟᴀɴᴅ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ ɢᴏᴅs."

"(She is… dangerously easy…)" Zukki clutched his heart, his face scrunching as if the pear had gone sour. "(It's adorable…!)" He thought to himself how he looked to the white-haired maiden, and shook himself out of it. "ᴛʜᴀᴛ sᴛʀᴏɴɢ, ʙᴜᴛ ʏᴏᴜ'ʀᴇ ʜᴏʟᴅ ᴜᴘ ɪɴ ᴛʜɪs ᴅᴜᴍᴘ?"

"ɪғ ɪ ᴡᴇʀᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴀʙᴀɴᴅᴏɴ ᴍʏ ᴅᴜᴛʏ, ᴛʜᴇɴ ᴍʏ ʜᴏɴᴏʀᴇᴅ ᴘʀᴇᴅᴇᴄᴇssᴏʀs ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ'ᴠᴇ ʟɪᴠᴇᴅ ғᴏʀ ɴᴏᴛʜɪɴɢ." She looked over each stone figure, as if confirming with them. "ᴛʜᴇɪʀ ʀᴇsᴛʟᴇss sᴘɪʀɪᴛs ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ʜᴏᴜɴᴅ ᴍᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ɢʀᴀᴠᴇ."

"ᴍᴀʏʙᴇ ɪ ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ғᴏʟʟᴏᴡ, ʙᴜᴛ... ʏᴏᴜ'ʀᴇ ɢᴏɴɴᴀ ʟɪᴠᴇ ᴛʜɪs ᴡᴀʏ ʙᴇᴄᴀᴜsᴇ ᴏғ sᴏᴍᴇ ғᴏʟᴋs ᴛʜᴀᴛ'ʀᴇ ᴀʟʀᴇᴀᴅʏ ᴅᴇᴀᴅ?"

"... ᴅᴇᴍᴏɴ!"

"ʜᴇʜ!?"

"ʏᴏᴜ'ʀᴇ ᴏɴʟʏ ʜᴇʀᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴅɪssᴜᴀᴅᴇ ᴍᴇ, ɴᴏᴡ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴡᴇ'ʀᴇ ᴛʜɪs ᴄʟᴏsᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴀsᴄᴇɴᴅᴀɴᴄᴇ! sʜᴀᴍᴇ ᴏɴ ʏᴏᴜ!" She shut her eyes. "ʏᴏᴜ ᴡɪʟʟ ɴᴏᴛ ᴛᴇᴍᴘᴛ ᴍᴇ!"

The monkey demon pouted. "ɪғ ʏᴏᴜ'ʀᴇ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴄᴏɴᴠɪɴᴄᴇᴅ ɪ'ᴍ ᴀ ᴅᴇᴍᴏɴ, ᴡʜʏ ɴᴏᴛ sᴄʀᴇᴀᴍ ғᴏʀ ʜᴇʟᴘ ᴏʀ sᴏᴍᴇᴛʜɪɴɢ?"

"... ʙᴇᴄᴀᴜsᴇ ɪ'ᴍ ᴛʜᴇ sᴛʀᴏɴɢᴇsᴛ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ sᴏᴋ-ᴋᴜᴍ. ɪ'ᴠᴇ ᴀʟᴡᴀʏs ʙᴏʀɴᴇ ᴛʀɪᴀʟs ᴏɴ ᴍʏ ᴏᴡɴ. ᴛʜɪs ᴏɴᴇ ɪs ɴᴏ ᴅɪғғᴇʀᴇɴᴛ."

He scarfed down the rest of his peach as she talked, downing the core with a crunch. "sᴜᴜᴜʀᴇ ʏᴏᴜ'ʀᴇ ɴᴏᴛ ᴊᴜsᴛ ʟᴏɴᴇʟʏ?"

She groaned, turning away, her snowy locks hiding her face. "ʟᴇᴀᴠᴇ ᴍʏ sɪɢʜᴛ, ᴏʀ ɪ'ʟʟ sᴍɪᴛᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴅɪʀᴇᴄᴛʟʏ!"

He giggled nervously. "ɪ'ʟʟ ᴄᴏᴍᴇ ʙᴀᴄᴋ ᴡʜᴇɴ ʏᴏᴜ'ʀᴇ ɪɴ ᴀ ʙᴇᴛᴛᴇʀ ᴍᴏᴏᴅ...! ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ sᴛᴀʏ ᴍᴀᴅ ᴀᴛ ᴍᴇ!" With that, he scrambled back up, but not without a "ʏᴏᴜ'ʀᴇ ᴘʀᴇᴛᴛʏ ᴇɪᴛʜᴇʀ ᴡᴀʏ!"

The white-haired young woman eyed the peach juice across the floor, her gaze alone causing it to offgas.

---

"ᴡʜᴀᴛ'ʀᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴅᴏɪɴɢ ᴡɪᴛʜ ʏᴏᴜʀ ʜᴀɴᴅs?"

She held her mudra.

"ɪs ᴛʜᴀᴛ, ʟɪᴋᴇ, ᴀ ɢʀᴇᴇᴛɪɴɢ ᴏʀ...ᴏʀ ᴛʜᴇ ғɪɴɢᴇʀ ᴏʀ sᴏᴍᴇᴛʜɪɴɢ?"

She stubbornly held her mudra.

"... ᴀʟʀɪɢʜᴛ sᴏ ɪs ɪᴛ ɢᴇᴛᴛɪɴɢ ʜᴏᴛ ɪɴ ʜᴇʀᴇ, ᴏʀ ɪs ɪᴛ ᴍᴇ?"

Her face scrunched into a frustrated frown, her aura brightening.

"ᴏᴋᴀʏ, I ᴀᴅᴍɪᴛ, ɴᴏᴛ ᴏɴᴇ ᴏғ ᴍʏ ʙᴇsᴛ."

Her head sank in shame, aura dimming to its usual tint. "ᴛʜɪs ᴄᴀɴ'ᴛ ʙᴇ… ɴᴏ ᴅᴇᴍᴏɴ ᴄᴏᴜʟᴅ ᴡɪᴛʜsᴛᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴀʀᴅ ᴏғ ᴀ sᴏᴋ-ᴋᴜᴍ, ᴍᴜᴄʜ ʟᴇss ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴏғ ᴀ ᴘᴀᴄᴇ's…! ᴡʜᴀᴛ ᴍᴀɴɴᴇʀ ᴏғ ᴅᴇᴠɪʟ ᴀʀᴇ ʏᴏᴜ!?"

"ᴡᴇʟʟ ɪғ ɪ ᴡᴀs ᴀɴʏ sᴏʀᴛ ᴏғ ᴅᴇᴍᴏɴ, ɪ ʙᴇᴛ ᴛʜᴀᴛ sᴛᴜғғ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅᴀ ᴡᴏʀᴋᴇᴅ ᴡᴏɴᴅᴇʀs." He looked at his tail and smiled. "ʟᴇᴛ's ᴊᴜsᴛ sᴀʏ ɪ'ᴍ ᴅɪsᴀᴘᴘᴏɪɴᴛɪɴɢ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ғᴏʟᴋs ᴛʜᴀɴ ʏᴏᴜ, ʀɪɢʜᴛ ɴᴏᴡ."

"If not-... ɪғ ɴᴏᴛ ᴀ ғɪᴇɴᴅ, ᴛʜᴇɴ...?"

The tailed man raised a brow. "ʏᴏᴜ ʀᴇᴀʟʟʏ ʜᴀᴠᴇɴ'ᴛ ғɪɢᴜʀᴇᴅ ɪᴛ ᴏᴜᴛ? ʜᴇʏ, ʜᴀᴠᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ʙᴇᴇɴ ʟɪᴠɪɴɢ ᴜɴᴅᴇʀ ᴀ ʀᴏᴄᴋ ғᴏʀ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴀsᴛ ᴄᴇɴᴛᴜʀʏ, ʟᴀᴅʏ!?"

"... ɪs ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴜɴᴄᴏᴍᴍᴏɴ?"

She was struck by a look of appalled pity. "... sᴘᴀᴄᴇ. ɪ'ᴍ ғʀᴏᴍ sᴘᴀᴄᴇ." Before the white-haired woman could ask, he pointed toward the sky.

At the stars above.

"Imposs…!"

"ʏᴜᴘ, 'ᴛʜᴀᴛ' sᴘᴀᴄᴇ ᴀʟʀɪɢʜᴛ!"

"Yᴏᴜ ᴡᴇʀᴇ ʙᴏʀɴ... ᴀᴍᴏɴɢsᴛ ᴛʜᴏsᴇ ʟɪɢʜᴛs?"

"ᴛʜᴇʏ'ʀᴇ ᴄᴀʟʟᴇᴅ sᴛᴀʀs, ʏ'ᴋɴᴏᴡ. ᴛʜᴏsᴇ ʟɪɢʜᴛs ᴜᴘ ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ." Zukki looked up to the sky, melancholy and nostalgic. "ᴀɴᴅ, ᴀᴄᴛᴜᴀʟʟʏ... ɪ ɢᴜᴇss ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴇʀᴇ ᴊᴜsᴛ ᴀs ᴍᴜᴄʜ ʙᴏʀɴ ғʀᴏᴍ ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ ᴀs ɪ ᴡᴀs. ᴊᴜsᴛ ᴀ ᴅɪғғᴇʀᴇɴᴛ ᴘʟᴀɴᴇᴛ, ɴ' ᴀʟʟ."

The way he spoke of that place above captivated her, egging him on without a word the moment their gazes linked once more.

"ᴏʜ, ᴊᴇᴇᴢ, ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ᴇxᴘʟᴀɪɴᴇᴅ ᴀ ᴘʟᴀɴᴇᴛ ᴛᴏ ᴀɴʏᴏɴᴇ ʙᴇғᴏʀᴇ... ᴡᴇʟʟ, ʜᴇʀᴇ ɪ ɢᴏ."

---

"There's a world right under our feet, with the name Earth… a colossal body, floating in this space, among the stars?"

"That's right! And it's not even alone! There's stuff like Mars and Neptune right around the corner, and even further out, like Jag, Rampu, Bampa, Veldin, Terfone, Namek, Suteibol, ESPECIALLY Yardrat, those guys helped me a TON with the Oozaru, it was awesome!"

They'd dropped their whispered tone in favor of a low, muttered conversation.

"... with such fantastic tales, do…. Do you not have a homeworld?"

"... I, do, actually. I just don't like it very much." Zukki looked Su'un over. "... and it doesn't like me very much, either."

"But why?"

Zukki wagged his tail. He slowly remembered what was hanging him from upside-down as it waved in his face.

Zukki then fell onto his neck, startling Su'un.

"Ah-AH…!?"

His palm outstretched toward her before she could check on him, making her recoil back.

"I-I'm fine," he chuckled, bringing said palm across his neck for a massage, calming Su'un for one reason or another. His tail seemed to check up on him, regardless. "It's this little guy, here." Zukki's tail wiggled above his face. "Back where I'm from, there was this war or something a thousand years ago. This wicked group used," his tail pointed at itself, "these to try keeping our people bloodthirsty killers." His tail quivered. "But another group of, well they say, righteous folks said 'no way', and a super guy came from that," he explained as his tail flexed, "kicked major tail, and from there… tails sorta went out of style." His tail drooped at the tip. "Cutting it off is a rite of 'cleanness', and keeping it on is 'devotion to the Wicked Gene'." His tail made an air quotation alongside him.

The green-eyed woman's lips pursed, trouble glare piercing the cold floor. "But if one so venerable could act in such a noble way, for the sake of what was right, then how could you not honor his name with an offer of your own?"

"Would you tear off your leg if some old folk told you it might make a dead guy happy?"

"Wh…!" Her own hesitation surprised her. "I…"

Zukki folded his arms. "I don't care what anyone says, I like every last patch on me. And if I'm strong enough now to control all of my worst, then what do those bozos have but grudges and excuses? I'm not losing anything to that."

A strangled, mournful look coated Su'un. Zukki noticed the second he brought his eyes back up, and briefly panicked. "Erm, looks like I brought you down, ummm I'll come back tomorrow, 'kay?"

Her head turned away from him. Zukki moped to himself and left.

"I was told…"

Zukki slowly pulled back the steaming street cake.

"... that I'm wasting 78 years of effort." Su'un glared at him, puffy eyes without malice, as if uncertain of his guilt.

"... you're seventy-eIGHT?"

"Why would you tell me these things?" the Sok-kum heiress interrogated. "What could you gain from impeding our progress?"

His comment on her aging beyond grace would have to wait. "I mean, won't you die if you go through with that?"

"THAT WOULD BE AN HONOR!"

"Mh…!"

Her eyes cried hate, but traveled through him. "How could you insist that I become a coward!? I will become a beacon for the new age, as have my honored predecessors! I shall not let them die out in anger!"

Zukki sighed through his nose.

"What… disrespect have you brought here since your arrival? Why couldn't you leave me be?"

Zukki held out his snack again. "Can't you just try it?"

"You…! You've poisoned me enough for a million lives."

"It's fine," Zukki smiled. "My ship should be all fixed up now. I'll be out of those snowy locks pretty soon. I just wanna leave you with something sweet."

Su'un frowned deeply, now directly into the onyx-haired man's ebony eyes. She gently lifted the street cake from his hands, fixating on him all throughout.

"... thank you."

She bit into it. The first bite was slow. Each subsequent bite was faster, until she found herself kissing the crumbs off her hand.

"Right?" Zukki grinned, a giggle escaping him. "Those are awesome!"

She stared at her hand, realizing the delicacy would never again grace it, no matter what passing caretaker she asked. "ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ. ɪᴛ's ғɪɴɪsʜᴇᴅ. ɴᴏᴡ ʟᴇᴀᴠᴇ."

Zukki checked her face for tears.

"Whelp… I think I'll stay here for a while, since the saiyans wouldn't touch earthling turf with a pole from here to the moon, what with their history." He waved to her. "It was fun, Ms. God Maiden. Even as a statue, you'll be drop dead gorgeous."

He walked back underneath his hole. The light of the stars dotted his black hair, refracted off his eyes. And they darted back to her one last time, before he leapt back into it, out of sight.

Su'un slowly sank back to her knees. When she closed them, she saw stars. All she could see were stars.

No matter how hard she concentrated, all she saw were stars. More than millions. Leading to different lands, endless bounds away.

Thoughts cluttered her head, ones she could no longer determine were blasphemous or not.

— it was useless.

She wanted to explore the land of the stars.

"WAIT!"

.

.

.

Nothing.

Her head slowly fell, mouth quivering. Her quarters seemed more like a cage by the second. The statues surrounding her were almost taunting. The footsteps approached from below, her captors checking if she'd been so callous as to neglect her cultivation once again, careless for the woman behind it.

As if to punish herself for being so foolish as to entertain the idea, she looked back up, glaring.

— his eyes were literally twinkling with ditzy tears.

"Y-yeh?" he asked, upside down.

Su'un welled up, what started as a small smile morphing into a conflicted grimace, before sprinting toward him. She leapt up, hugging his head as muttered sobs seeped from her.

---

"Honored Seventh…!?"

The attendant bore witness to a massive hole in the ceiling.

The screams of "INTRUDER!" and "THE SEVENTH HAS BEEN STOLEN!" thundered across the mountainside, hundreds in armored robes gazing in terror and anger alike at the rising light in the night sky.

A man in an open ship was carrying away, bridal style in his arms, their last step to a divine audience. The latter of which held eyes bursting with surprise, yet arms adamantly locked around his neck regardless.

"THANKS FOR THE HOSPITALITY, EVERYONE!" he yelled. "DON'T WORRY, SHE'LL BE HOME BY, UM, I DUNNO, ACTUALLY DON'T HOLD YOUR BREATH OVER IT! I'LL WORK REAL HARD TO MAKE HER HAPPY THOUGH! PLEASE GIVE US YOUR BLESSINGS!"

A blinding gathering of ki honed in at a point, illuminating the earth and sky alike.

"H-HOLD ON! I DIDN' QUITE MEAN IT LIKE THAT!"

The other Sok-kum quickly diverted attention toward the source in their midst; white-haired, long-bearded, green-eyed senior. "WHAT SACRILEGE IS THIS!?" cried one, amongst the reprimands and pleas of his company.

"QUIET, COWARDS!" His hand held steady, ki lathered with unrepentant murderous intent. "IF SHE'S SO WILLING TO CAST OUR DESTINY TO THE WAYSIDE, THEN HER OWN WILL END HERE! MAY THE SIX PACES HOUND YOU FOR ALL-TIME, WRETCH!" He fired, the shot itself rupturing the mountain enough for a range-scale avalanche. Zukki panicked, tossing Su'un into the air.

But she'd heard the old man's callous words.

"Ggn…!"

A fire lit in her eyes, the former vessel clasping her hands together with a blinding, mystic emerald glow of her own about her. She screamed, and before the beam could devour the yowling tailed man, it seemed to distort into nothingness without even a whimpering shockwave, the energy vanishing completely. All below her marveled, some shrinking to their knees. Zukki cried her name and nearly leapt after her, only for the maiden to dark back onto him with a hug.

"... wha?"

Su'un smiled faintly, heaving her every breath. "Was that… awesome?"

"... yeah. Yeah, YEAH, IT WAS WAY MORE THAN AWESOME!"

The two shared a grin, before the hatch fell.

"Awesome…" she whispered to herself as she detached from Zukki, slumping over toward the side of the small ship. As she sank to the floor, she beheld the stars, so close now that she felt they were in arm's reach. But she was content with gazing at them. "Is there a word that's 'more' than awesome?"

Zukki hightailed it to the driver's seat. "I could tell ya if I had a Thesaurus." He leaned his head over his shoulder and smirked. "Guess we'll have to find it, huh?"

"Ah…"

"... you know what's not awesome?"

"Mh?"

Zukki gazed up at the stars, with the same melancholy held by Su'un. A single tear fell from his tired eyes.

"Ship's outta fuel."

They fell.

---

Green eyes rose into the morning's blue hour.

He set himself upright, stared emptily. Then he covered his eyes with a palm. When it fell, he surprised himself; they didn't reveal a dark room, or a mountainside, or stars. The fiery crash and subsequent yowling of a funny man with a tail ablaze weren't there, either.

He was back in Conton. Which meant his name was no longer Su'un.

"... Jin…" He said it aloud, as if renaming himself. "Sok-kum… huh…?"

He liked Zinco better. The name, he felt in spite of the fact, needed to be acknowledged.

"(... Jin… So… how did I…?)" He let it go, getting to his feet, noticing its softer composition, like he was standing atop a waterbed. The half-blood's head turned. His partner still lay sleeping, wrapped in what seemed to be a cape over a grassy knoll that rose and sank like… also a water bed. He smiled; she looked peaceful. A simple, breeze-esque feel washed over him, his head rising to the young sky once again. A small gate, the likes of which would be common on a farm, stood behind him, and he leaned his back onto it, absorbing a moment he once felt he'd not deserved.

He then looked off into the distance, toward a cliff. Atop which, a monolithic structure, absent just a year back, stood arrogantly. It barked for the eyes of those below, yet stood high enough for those within to remain secluded. He stared, and his serene look set down. He looked toward her again, toward her peaceful, resting visage, and then back at the structure above, marching toward it.

Another memory ground him to a halt. His determined, steward posture fell, and he actually thought about what he was doing. He shook his head, and turned back to-

"Leaving?" Kaza asked.

Zinco jolted like a startled stag. "AH…!"

"MH…!"

.

.

Zinco chuckled behind his lips, blushing. "Sorry. I wanted to go alone, but it wouldn't feel right, leaving without telling you anything.

The majin smiled. "Good! Want something to eat, first? I'm starving! Well, I CAN'T starve, but, I-I'm hungry. Are you?"

"Not really." Zinco's stomach immediately testified, and passionately so.

"... Let's eat. Please?"

Zinco's shamed smirk seemed ready to slide off his face.

He wiped crumbs off his face, within the icy dimension.

---

Kaza held the orb of his spirit, infusing it with her own. "Only one?"

"Mh." The green-eyed boy nodded. "I just need a warm-up, so I'm absolutely positive I can win. And also…"

"Yes?"

"Don't you feel… tired?"

The djinn sobered. "What would make you think that?"

Zinco's hand reached for his eyes, but he stopped it. "Just, your face…"

She looked down at the ice to find she'd been deteriorating ever since she woke up.

"Oh. Guess I am! That happens sometimes, y'know?"

The boy began having second thoughts regarding her aid, period. Kaza could see it, and quickly rubbed at her face. "Ta-da!" she exclaimed, her wrinkles and eyebags gone.

Apprehension sprouted across his body like an allergic reaction.

Kaza cleared her throat. "Zinco, I'm not tired. I just had a weird dream." Her construct spun to existence within her hand, as she let it spring into the world. "We can talk about it when you win, alright?"

"You don't even need to sleep," Said Muara. "You did that to yourself…"

"(YOU. . . !)"

The doppelganger crashed into the ice as if it'd fallen from orbit, packing a daunting pair of canines. Zinco took a step back before his mind could register the gap.

Muara play-recoiled. "Wow, aren't you uppity today?"

[ BGM: Bruce Falconer – Full Power ]

"(DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA OF WHAT YOU'VE DONE!?)"

Zinco clashed with his barbaric double, thrown on his toes nanoseconds after break-off as the construct howled and lashed out with a speed teetering on both ends of Zinco's.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ"All I've done was live. Of course, then you happened."

"LIVE!?"

A glacier exploded, conflict ongoing within the frosted mist left behind. The construct's blows had grown more focused, more spiteful. In any case, Zinco had also found his bearings — he weaved past three attacks with afterimage-blurred speed, before throwing the foe's balance off with a tieshankao, then slipping behind them with a single, open-palm strike.

"(I'VE SEEN… ALL OF IT! EVERYTHING YOU'VE DONE SINCE YOU WERE BORN!)" Kaza's enraged aura seeped like magma from a supervolcano, undoing her surroundings; the ice was being sublimated. "(WHEN YOU WEREN'T HIDING LIKE A ROACH, YOU WERE…!)"

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ"Oooh, I think I understand. You're upset because things died, right?"

Kaza erupted in vats of smoke. "(YOU COULDN'T COUNT THEM ALL…!)"

Muara yawned. "You're right, I couldn't. If they don't hold value, then why should I even care?"

"(... what?)"

Zinco's double began to seize up, and stopped its slow deterioration. He leapt out of the frost cloud before its tail – that of a kaiju's – could slam into him. He tried to catch his bearings across the ground, only to discover more mist. After a staggered transition into levitation, he took in his surroundings; a great, dim light shined in front of him, and facing it, he saw the silhouette of a great beast, dwarfing his size by a li.

"It's simple. Mortals, Gods, Demons, they only care for things with value to them." Murara shrugged. "I'm hardly any different. If I find that something amuses me, I'll care for it. If it nourishes me, then I'll care for it. If it improves me, then I'll care for it."

Zinco blinked away from an attempted grab, then from a punch, sparing all needless movements before diving beneath a swat, honing in on the behemoth's center mass. His strike met mist, the beast reappearing over him with a superior speed. In spite, he shot downward at the moment of impact, leaving another afterimage, and then struck it directly, dual-palmed, resulting in a light bursting from behind the colossus.

"See, I've never killed anyone or destroyed anything senselessly. You know that just as well as I do. If something dies in the process, it died as a byproduct, and it died for a reason. I mean, really. Life with a set time limit doesn't amount to much of anything. It will die, its people will die, its planet will die. In time, all things end, remembered by nothing, without permanence." Muara pumped her fists, mimicking Kaza's inflection. "But when I'M the reason it dies, it has REAL value! It's worth more than the universe, even! Isn't that amazing?"

"(IS THAT HOW YOU JUSTIFY IT!?)"

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ"I don't need to justify anything when I'm right. I'm breaking it down for you, a child."

The titan began to seal itself by a means which Zinco didn't know, but welcomed with arms outstretched, inhaling deeply. It roared, and he released a kiai, roaring back into a stance. His golden aura began to compress onto his body, and a vibrant emerald light, like cloud wisps or flames, enveloped his arms and legs, trailing behind himself.

Kaza grit through tears, eyes strained with black veins. "(I finally understand why so many people wanted to kill me…! YOU SHOULDN'T EXIST! YOU'RE A MONSTER! YOU'RE WORSE THAN A MONSTER!)"

The Majin smiled.

A skyward eruption pierced the upper atmosphere all the while, casting a silhouette on all things present. Naturally, excluding her.

"I'm you. Is that as a mother, or a sister, or an alternate, or a god? I haven't got a clue. But if you truly can't settle with the fact, then feel free to kill yourself, so I can take back the reins. Until then, I'll enjoy this momentary distraction alongside you. You're worthy of that much." Muara drifted behind Kaza.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ"Once he reaches his end," her two eyes narrowed, and the three atop her forehead winked, "I'll be there for him."

Kaza stared emptily.

"KAZA!"

She looked back up. He smiled at her, bruised and bloodied.

"THAT WAS… AWESOME!" He dashed over to her, and calmed down with a final, long-winded exhale. "It was just what I needed. Thank you, Kaza!"

"..."

Zinco would be thanking Muara. For something.

"That wasn't me, Zinco."

He raised a brow.

"I, um… I'll tell you the rest when you win. That's what I said, right?"

His head fell at a slight angle, as if piecing something together. It was quiet for a second.

"Oh, that's what you meant!" Zinco giggled. "I did that to myself, huh?"

Kaza smiled glumly. "It's fine. I'm just glad you had fun!"

She activated the gate, and they flew through.

"Think you'll need any more training?" Kaza asked, hands behind her back as they sailed. "Anything last minute?"

Zinco looked toward his fist, clenching it with a newer, greater pressure. He raised it, reaffirming its quality. "Nh-nn. I'm ready."

Kaza flew closer as he spoke, then stuck Zinco with an index finger, right in the head. "How about in here?"

"Y-yes!"

She struck again, this time in the heart. "Annnnn~d here?"

"Kaza…!" Zinco clutched his chest as he tried not to laugh.

"I have to double-check everything!" Kaza insisted with a wink. "Well?"

He gave her a reassuring smile. "Yep. I'm all ready."

ㅤㅤㅤ"... he could save you again, if you'd just say it."

"(He shouldn't need to. I'll deal with you myself.)"

---

"That the place?"

Above his silent mounted beast, a man of extraordinary size and bulk, bald to the brows with eyes red as the crimson sky, without the scarves the others wore. Decorated like the suzerain of a cultic land, his brown duster open and loose around his massive body. He turned to them. "Gentlemen, here it stands. A vista untouched by men of our era, thousands of years beyond the clock. As promised."

A kid no more than fifteen narrowed his fringed eyes, one green, the other the same crimson, a duality shared by all but the monolith. "Don't see much different 'bout it."

"Hell with it," croaked one in a cloak. "If they got more drink down yonder, I'll kill 'em all dead for a drop."

A bearded one, leader among them, spat. "Just a buncha shine. 'Bout as barren as where we came from, 'f not moreso. Sure's hell ain't no paradise I ever seen, so hell'd you drag us out here for then, Bulgur?"

The suzerain smiled. "These lands, those in them, lie beyond my eyes. I find that impermissible."

"Damn you."

"Lose not hope, now. See them. They live without woe, meek. Many a spoil await you, if only you'd take it. Take from the land and build your own paradise. Such is the man's way."

The bearded one reared his horrible silent beast. He eyed the suzerain before spurring it forward. The men followed behind.

The kid began to spur his own. Another man grabbed desperately. "Don't heed not a word from him, boy. Save your soul yet."

"Why should I?"

"These are wicked arts. Men should not trespass somethin so natural as time."

"Already done it. I ain't stoppin here." He spurred off.

A boy walked the streets without fear as the company rode forward. He ran to greet them. The cloaked one raised his hand and fired, and down went the boy.

He lowered his hand, slowed his steed. Standing before his target was a large man a hair's breadth from seven feet, with a compact build, in armor of exotic origin that'd seen Hell as of late, with furred tail and beardless face, hair a tossup between a valley of spikes and a groomed mane.

"That ain't right… that ain't right I shot the sonova bitch square on-" He would not speak again. The tailed man swiped his hand, a bellow like some great behemoth leaping from his maw, and most of all the men burned away in scattered heaps across the terrain. And there was the wise man, he who basked in it and wafted it as if an oven's warm gust in winter. "Large men with furred tails, and power over the spirit." The suzerain smiled. "Has our trespass led you here, sir?"

"Were those not your men?"

"In fact they were."

"What a composure you possess, then."

"Men ought not go mad over poor circumstance."

"The death of your men? A poor circumstance?"

The suzerain smiled. "Would you reckon otherwise, young man?" He held out a small, feminine hand. "Come, child. Let us discuss in detail. I won't hurt you."

The tailed man made at him with a fist. He was nimbler on his feet, the suzerain, he seized the blow and struck with the back of his larger fist. He raised the man's massive arm and sought to break it apart. But the tailed man took control of himself, arm resistant, and clattered the suzerain's hairless face with a chambered, glowing elbow. The grip was undeterred, the suzerain taking up his claimed limb with another of his own, slamming the challenger into the world, and again, he longed for his arm. To great annoyance, the tailed man rebuked him, a great flash streaming from his free hand, sweeping the large suzerain across the plains. "Cur…!" He eyed the arm that'd been seized with a growing disdain, it bent of shape and bleeding. By the suzerain's calling upon of omens and bad spirits, he'd already bared fangs at his own flesh. The suzerain bent the space between them, and his small misshapen hands enveloped his neck, flares of violets and blacks thorning from his hands, swallowing his flesh. The voice of the tailed man boomed across the land once more, and a force split his hands away in burning. He birthed a heat from his own hands and sealed his pouring wounds, and a hand with violets and blacks struck at him. He spoke in a murmur, the suzerain, and the fallen had risen to its tune to shoot the tailed man with pale rays, yet he held out with speed and strength for a time. The hands would come and go to snatch a new clump of flesh and place it somewhere absent, and the rays from the white-eyed scourges bit at his body like rabid dogs as he put them down. In time, the tailed man had gone pale, scatter-eyed and ragged-breathed. The suzerain approached from above to seize him in his horrid bulk, and a rage spewed from the boy in a ghostly hailstorm many fold his former level. The veins of his face unearthed themselves in his feral screaming. Rock melted in the scarlet overture, but the suzerain's flesh held firm, as did his smile. His mass fluttered weightlessly as he twirled and jigged with an appalling grace, dancing soundlessly, and he then appeared before the boy and it pleased him to embrace with his unrighteous lights and sounds. But the tailed man was quicker, and with a death throe from the gut, his soldering fist wore ghostly teeth and burrowed through the bulk. A final blast jerked his fist from the mound of flesh, sending it to the wind to feed not the insects of the land, and the suzerain lived no more.

He fell, then slowed in the air, then fell again, his landing kicking up dirt. He shivered as he stumbled to his feet with carved flesh and a mane of which his own inner redness had dragged dripping over his eyes.

He saw the child. Scarred, shaking, teeth bared and a will o' wisp between his primed hands.

"You don't scare me none."

He'd survived on a miracle. He had just enough to bring him down.

"Stop it, boy!" The man unscarfed approached. "Leave! Start anew! By Almighty, you've another chance to live!"

He walked him down.

---

Ceushius stood before the door. "Gaudy" came to mind. To call it such would've felt heartless.

Black and gold, it was etched with so many hieroglyphics that they'd become a texture in themselves. They detailed exploits of how-many different saiyans, their backgrounds, the way they'd lived on Planet Sadala, and on Vegeta or Plant or whatever name the conqueror had chosen for it. Atop all of them, one belonging to Voshyo: Heaven on the left, Hell on the right. The symmetrical visage of a screaming Oozaru in the center, its etched spokes pervading both planes. Voshyo was a surprisingly good artist… when he was given time. A tireless week's worth. Those beneath him, fifty-fifty.

One captured his attention, the latest etching near the bottom. The death of Frieza. He knelt to the monument, toward the disparity of tailed figures in the last panel compared to the first. His hand slid down, touched the earth, and he stood. The door was pushed open.

— the halls had never felt so vast.

There was a dry, translucent happiness pervading the interior. An odorless stench of death hung around the residents' motivated bustle. A few saiyans turned his way and shined dull smiles, obligatory tribute toward the man who'd solidified "their" victory. Voshyo was nowhere to be seen, but he didn't much care to see the boy at the time. There was someone in specific he felt the need to check on.

Sera'i held the salvaged piece of armor. The image of his proud, savage fallen friend seemed to refract off its polish.

"Say, what's your vendetta against Frieza, 'sides the obvious?"

"You know… I'm not all that angry about the planet. From what I've seen, those saiyans really liked picking on weaker species."

"Then…?"

Noi smirked angrily. "That bastard…! He's the reason why most of the galaxy's food sucked! I never got to eat anything yummy until I died!" She bashed her palm with a fist. "I'm not gonna stop until I kill him at least a HUNDRED times! Maybe THEN I'll be happy!"

He almost smiled. "(... all of that. For food.)" His head fell onto the broken chassis. His sorrow could no longer quell the warmth from the memory, and it revealed itself in quivering. "(If I could've just told you how much you meant…)"

A new, caesious shape elongated over the piece's glimmer, and his composure boarded itself.

"...?"

"Your quarters were open, Sera'i."

"Then why are you here, in Noi's?"

"..."

"I'm paying respects. Polishing armor was a funeral rite from the planet I crashed onto, and it stuck with me. Your excuse?"

"I'm paying my own respects, I suppose."

"'Suppose', huh? Do whatever." Sera'i returned to his polishing. Ceushius's bone brow drooped.

"Have I done something to wrong you?"

"Where do you get off, asking that?"

Before the mammoth musai could respond, the young saiyan shot to his feet. "DO YOU JUS WANT ME TO SAY IT!?"

Ceushius stepped back. Sera'i noticed, and tried his best to subdue himself. "I'm grateful that you saved everyone you did. I am. But DAMMIT, THAT WAS-" Sera'i bashed his thigh, "OUR FIGHT! LOSS, WIN, IT WAS OURS! We knew you were strong enough to take Frieza down yourself, but for ONCE we had the chance to kill that bastard ourselves, show how strong the Saiyans are, and FINALLY, FINALLY defend our HOME from him!" He heard a chip, looked down at his fallen friend's armor in horror, and set it down. "But… after all this… all we're left with is the knowing that we're still too weak to deal with him ourselves. That we still need outside help."

"And I… am this 'outside help', I presume."

"..." He gripped the bedsheet, his face beginning to scrunch. "DAMMIT…!" Sera'i looked back up with defeated, apologetic eyes, avoiding contact with the frost demon's. "You didn't do anything wrong. We COULDN'T blame you." He reserved any and all else, and began to leave.

"Should this not serve as a wake-up call, then?"

Sera'i kept walking.

"To consider training, I mean."

Sera'i stopped. "The battlefield's our training ground."

"Not even you sound convinced. Not anymore."

"If it works for Lord Voshyo, then no matter what, it HAS to be a path to power! That's the path of a Saiyan! If we can't grow from there, then…! Then we're just too WEAK!"

"DOES THIS MEAN NOI WAS TOO WEAK!?"

Ceushius's anger ground everything to a halt.

There was an uneasy silence.

"... gn…"

Sera'i's fist tightened against the wall.

"Don't make me say it…"

Ceushius stood, horrified. He stormed out in a silent, palpable rage.

Sera'i gazed at the wall, just as horrified.

---

Far down the path, Ceushius's storming continued. It inevitably ran into another.

Voshyo walked up the path with all the stability of a wounded lion, unwilling to show more than it could conceal, lest its pride lose heart. He was lined with scars – including one massive hole revealing much of his right – that'd cut through his compression suit, his eyes were being kept open manually, and his armor had almost completely vanished, save his crumbling upper breastplate. His every defiant forward movement vexed the grizzle-carapaced musai. He stopped where he was.

"For whose sake, boy?"

Voshyo stopped.

"For your insolent pride, that will not relinquish its hold on former glories? Or is this facade for those foolish enough to follow you, adamant on this path of destruction you've paved for yourself?"

Voshyo didn't answer.

"A path that does not shift its course and insists on barreling its way forward will ONLY, ULTIMATELY lead to ruin! Why have you blinded yourself to the fact? As it stands, you lead a DEATH CULT, filled with those that doubt their own resolve! Do you TRULY believe a display like-" Ceushius thrusted his hand toward him, as if presenting a clown, "THIS will suffice to rally them? If so, then what? ANOTHER road to annihilation?"

Voshyo didn't answer.

"At this rate, how much longer until YOU die? What will they do, then? Has the thought even crossed your mind, or will its mere entertainment drive you mad!?"

Voshyo didn't answer. Ceushius riled up, like a volcano fit to erupt.

"VOSHYO!"

Ceushius looked back in surprise. Voshyo stared upward, with a curled frown.

There, atop the structure, sun beaming above him,

[ BGM: Hiroyuki Sawano – tbfworld (0:24) ]

"Zinco…?"

Him, yes.

The older saiyan snarled, immediately readying himself.

"Don't be stupid."

A smack on the back almost knocked him over, slapping a leg forward with his tail to prevent even a kneel. To his immense chagrin, he found himself steadily recovering stamina, even his clothing somehow regenerating. A girl taller than he walked before him, toward and-then beside Ceushius, arms folded. "You won't last a SECOND against him like that."

Zinco looked down upon the Saiyan, eyes narrowed intensely, teeth bared, inhaling deeply as he prepared his decree, raising his hands to his chest.

"PLEASE FIGHT WITH ME AGAIN!" he roared, clapping his hands together and bowing, "IF YOU AREN'T DOING ANYTHING RIGHT NOW!"

Kaza stared.

"(... ah. He's just naturally polite.)"

The building began to pour out those of Voshyo's coalition, searching for the intrepid owner of the challenge. One found just that after a 180-check, and others followed in droves until shouts and insults flew from below. Zinco only waited for Voshyo's response, almost daring to turn it down with his spear-like, borderline regal glare.

"SO BE IT!"

All provocations disappeared in smoke. Voshyo raised a fist to Zinco. "If THIS is the level of arrogance you're willing to display, then SO BE IT! If you are to die, then SO BE IT! Know I, Voshyo, will spare NO TRACE of my being in battle!"

"THAT'S AWESOME!" Zinco roared back. He stepped off the cathedral-esque tower, landed atop the tip of a saiyan's wacky hairdo, and bounded off said hair strands in a series of flips, landing right in front of Voshyo. The two locked glares.

Voshyo then turned around.

"Ah… oh, right!"

"Just what the burning hell do you mean, 'oh right'?"

"I thought we'd start fighting here, but… n-nevermind, I just forgot."

Voshyo's glare shut for a moment, his closed eyes almost pleading, before it reopened. He walked ahead.

Zinco followed.

Ceushius and Kaza followed.

Something short of thirty saiyans followed.

---

"Wut the shit?" a saiyan hybrid in a delivery hat with an eight-pack of alcohol muttered, as a parade of saiyans and two UNITS of a majin and musai, respectively, went past her.

---

Voshyo landed, as did Zinco. The latter looked up in surprise.

It wasn't the Frost Demon home-world that he'd grown so accustomed to.

"What? Do you not recognize this place?"

Zinco held his astonished gaze.

"No, of course you don't. What mere halfling would?"

"This is…"

Voshyo reopened his eyes, raising a brow.

The blonde's eyes furrowed. "Yamoshi…"

Murmurs erupted amongst the other saiyans. Voshyo's brows kissed the stratosphere.

"Why did you say that name…?" the Saiyan growled.

"... it's where I… died…"

A desperate, wordless bout of pleading bounced through his head. He couldn't remember for who, it just wasn't for himself. The thoughts were muddied; in the same memory, he was being blasted to death, ki sphere by ki sphere.

His recollection was shattered with ill-willed chuckling. "I see. So that explains it. Through some moronic loophole in the threads of fates, the Fabled Fool had his way. No wonder you have such a broken understanding of the Saiyan."

Zinco frowned.

[ BGM: Kenji Fujisawa – Guevara's Seriousness ]

"Throughout the cosmos, many species claim to know of combat, of warring. They start from sticks and stones, build continuously to create arms that destroy from afar, armors to hide from consequence. They'll twist their fellow, their enemy, to wage their conflicts against themselves, in THEIR stay, lying safely behind locked doors leagues from the front lines as they toss arms and funds to and fro. They consider this 'battle', a way of life to be admired and decorated."

Voshyo clenched a fist, tight enough to shock the air. "HOWEVER…! This idea of power, of allowing strength not of your own to pave a sickly false glory, is nothing more than COMEDY!" He brought the fist to the side of his head. "But the Saiyan… one that fights as it pleases, eternally augmenting itself through naught but fiercer combats, relying SOLELY on its OWN MIGHT, its OWN WILL as arms to bear…! It is ONLY WE who have honed the TRUE ESSENCE of war!"

Zinco continued to glare a hole through the heir as he continued.

"From the moment we draw breath, our spirits cry out for conflict! Its craving is etched into our very CELLS! With EVERY battle, we evolve! With every victory, with every defeat, we only grow stronger! As long as we wield the Saiyan spirit in the pits of our gut, there is NARY AN END TO OUR POTENTIAL!"

Voshyo's aura exploded. "THE RITE TO HEAVEN AND HELL ALIKE IS NOTHING BUT A TRIBUTE TO SAIYAN MIGHT! GODS AND DEVILS ALIKE, NOTHING MORE THAN IMMORTAL STORYTELLERS! ALL THAT IS STANDS ONLY TO WITNESS OUR CONQUEST!"

His coalition erupted into fierce roaring, howls and cheers abound.

Ceushius slowly shook his head. "What could lead a man…?"

"I like him," Muara smiled. "Boyishly arrogant, but he seems to know what he is."

"(Shut it,)" Kaza responded.

"You're just jealous he isn't deluded."

"(That's MY line!)"

The half-blood continued to glare. "Are you finished?"

Voshyo smirked.

Zinco stared.

.

.

"Yes," Voshyo frowned.

"Osu. You're wrong and a crazy person."

Voshyo smirk-twitched.

"We… Saiyans… we like fighting. We're born liking fighting, most of us. And we're stronger and grow stronger quicker than most people. But that can be a curse, too. If we can't control it fast enough, then we just wind up hurting others, others that we care about. And soon, we can't even live in the same place without people being scared of us." He slowly gripped a fist. "We can't even look at a full moon without losing control of it all. So why are you so PROUD of that?" His tail bristled. "That 'Saiyan Fighting Spirit'... because of that, people are dead. Even now, you LET it kill people that YOU cared about. And you're gonna keep letting it happen, over and over, unless I step in, or until you die!"

Voshyo snarled, almost happily. "OH, YOU'VE GOT A FLAME ABOUT YOU, NOW! WHAT MANNER OF CHALLENGE WOULD THAT BE!?"

"YEAH!" Zinco's aura burst. "I'M NOT LETTING ANYONE ELSE DIE!"

The older Saiyan grimaced, but his younger counterpart wasn't done. He held up a finger.

"AND I'LL DO IT WITH ONE! I'LL KILL THAT 'FIGHT' IN ONE SHOT!"

Voshyo somehow managed to grow angrier and calmer in one slow stop.

"If I can't… then I'll give up on this."

"And if you win?"

Zinco grew fierce again. "You'll break up your group!"

"THE HELL'D YOU SAY, PUNK!?"

"SCOUNDREL!"

"I'LL KILL YOU MYSELF, SHITSTAIN!"

"THAT BRAT'S GONE TOO FAR, NOW!"

Voshyo grinned smugly. "Then we'll simply strike our own paths. What a miserable wager."

"You'll never fight again." Zinco smiled. "I'll break your spirit myself."

[ BGM: Masato Shimon – I Kill The Fight ]

"HMMN!"

Scarlet ki rippled across the area like a contained nuclear explosion. "THEN I'LL UP THE ANTE AND WAGER MY OWN SPIRIT ON A SINGLE ATTACK, AS WELL!" His enraged smile shifted to a determined scowl, before a wind tunnel of burning spirit blasted Zinco — a focused torrent emanated by Voshyo's aura alone, like a compressed fusion bomb if not worse.

"GHHHH—!" The tailed boy was blasted off his feet, sent tumbling by the emission as the barren ground beneath him tore.

"ZINCO!" Kaza screamed. Her own attempt to step in was cut off, however; her legs refused to go any further. The majin eyed them in terror, fearing the worst, but gradually came to understand the hesitance. She furrowed, and stood upright again.

Zinco began to resist the searing tempest mid-air, gaining what footing he could get in a skid across the terrain, steadied, and heightened his own aura, slowly raising his arms to brace against the oncoming riptide.

"HRRR—!"

But instead, he widened his stance.

"(There'll be worse…! I was right when I first said it…! And I'm right now!)"

Voshyo beheld Zinco's stance, frowned, grimaced, and roared. The torrent became a tsunami.

"GAH-!" The half-blood's mouth held open, as if missing a scream. "(IF I SHOW ANY WEAKNESS, KAZA MIGHT FLIP OUT! I WON'T LET THAT HAPPEN!)" Through strained eyes, Zinco roared back, summoning more power from within. His posture straightened, abandoning his stance. "(AND JUST…)"

"AND JUST WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO ACCOMPLISH-"

"(-FROM STANDING HERE AND TAKING IT!?)"

No longer solely concentrated on bearing the agony, now focusing on taking a single step forward, the pain exploded across his body. It was as if he'd gained a higher level of sentience, and he could now feel every cell crying out. His eyes faded completely as he started up. "(See?)" His lips twitched upward. "(I can be right, sometimes…! I'm not that stupid…!)"

"Look at you!" Voshyo hissed. "So adamant on 'killing' the fighting spirit of our warrior race, yet THERE YOU ARE, employing it to its fullest! I've heard of your imbecilic dream! A world without conflict!? Erasing the idea itself? Calling it 'childish' is an insult to even INFANTS! Such drivel spits on the very nature of the-"

"(SHUT. UP.)"

For the first time, Zinco began to zone someone out. The pain began to be overshadowed, as he began to take wider, faster strides.

"(Are you even listening to yourself?)"

Voshyo continued to raise his tone, revealing even more power that seared him through his strengthening aura. "Your POWER, your DISDAINS, you place EVERYTHING behind a veil and abandon your pride outright! How dare trash like you ever THINK of considering yourself a-"

"(Dying is bad. Violence hurts. Is it THAT hard to get? But there you are, calling it a good thing, and everyone around you keeps cheering you on…! Why aren't YOU the stupid one!?)"

One of his arms flared with an even-more intense emerald.

"(It's like no one even TRIES anything else…! When someone DOES… THAT happens! It's like the only thing you… IDIOTS understand is punching each other!)"

His clothes began tearing in the midst of the wave, his hair frazzled and his skin dotted with black cuts and burns. A low growling came to Voshyo's ears as he neared striking range.

"(I might as well take 'stupid' as a COMPLIMENT! For all your big words, you're not saying ANYTHING that makes ANY SENSE!)"

The Saiyan heir snarled at the boy, veins creeping up along his neck and within his eyes. The boy reflected the expression.

"(So you know what?)"

He beheld a divine roar.

"(I'M TAKING IT FROM YOU!)"

And a heel shot straight into his chin.

What looked like an emerald formation of cirrus clouds dashed from the larger Saiyan's being and off into the sky, scattering his scarlet aura and leaving him frozen in place. Zinco stumbled back, before landing on a knee, mind hazing.

Voshyo slowly teetered away. He felt light. Like his mind had been made clear.

"... huh?"

"Lord Voshyo…?"

"Hey! Lord Voshyo!"

"Pull it together!"

He looked around, wide-eyed, almost confused by what his fellowship was saying. They seemed pointlessly riled. It was almost cartoonish, how they expressed themselves.

"You BASTARD!" one of the coalition yelled, all nearby ire directed toward Zinco. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM!?"

"CHANGE HIM BACK, RIGHT NOW!"

"I'LL KILL YOU, YOU STUPID LITTLE SHIT!"

Maybe it was the pain that agitated him. Maybe it was adrenaline. In any case, as he looked around, he grew visibly fed up with the incessant barking.

And then he saw Kaza. Still there, happy after his successful strike.

"(... ah. That's right.)"

[ BGM: Yutaka Yamada – Awaken ]

His face softened, and he turned back to his reeling opponent. "Mr. Voshyo."

Voshyo looked back down at the battered, smoking Zinco. The latter pointed toward the other two present.

"Um, that's Kaza."

The aforementioned djinn tried to hide her blush.

"You've already met though, so I don't really know why I'm reintroducing her, but… I love her."

She couldn't hide the plumes of steam that shot from her.

"Yest-er-day…" Zinco lost hold of his chuckle, but worked to regain himself. "She helped me overcome myself. My own pain, I mean. I'd been holding onto it for my entire life, but once she noticed, she did everything she could to push me over it. Actually, she showed me it was there, all along. She's my best friend, and I love her more than anything."

She couldn't hide her tears, either. Her smile didn't try to.

Zinco smiled. "What I mean is… there's something much better than fighting. It's love. I can't explain it the best, but it can come from anyone. I think it's worth living for, much more than fighting. If everyone found someone that loved them, and accepted them, and forgave them, then we wouldn't need heaven or hell. I think that, eventually, if enough people found that someone, everyone would work toward something similar just to make that person happy, and then even more people would love each other. It would take time, but… we'd figure something out. I'll help out as much as I can, until then. All I want from you is to search for it."

He heard the boy clearly. There was no resistance within.

And it sounded nice. That concept.

"... I'll let you think about it."

Zinco turned around to meet dozens of riled-up saiyans, bared fists and tensed bodies ready to pounce.

He quietly sighed. "There's no way around it." The Sok-kum readied himself, his breathing growing more ragged inversely with his rising ki. "I'll end that 'curse' for us."

---

"Do they fight because they're angry? Because they're scared?"

Voshyo watched through glazed eyes.

"No… what eyes they possess. Even now. Wai…"

Melancholic nostalgia filled his heart.

"Yes, of course."

He recalled a girl. One that came up to his sternum on her tippy-toes, maybe. So weak, there were toddlers that could leave her bed-ridden in a chance spar.

His first meeting was coming across her in the fetal position, being kicked on two sides, without making a sound. Some small, otherwise-prey creature in her clutches, the same look in her eye.

There was the same look, when she hit that button, and forced him to leave his people.

The same as when she offered her life in exchange for his own.

Once a mammoth inferno, a miniscule, sputtering flame clung to life within him, even amongst constant gales.

"... have I forgotten?"

The simmering flame began to bite back at the gusts, sending sparks their way.

He remembered how it felt to hear his coalition roar. How it felt to stare down a rival. How it felt to be near her. The agony of his race being subjugated. The rage of seeing it spat upon. It made that vow possible.

"Heaven, Hell. If they could only see it be conquered… a place for them to battle for all-time… and one for those bizarre few…"

"Maybe once you've conquered all there is, one way or another…"

"To know peace, and rest…"

---

Outside, the coalition let out a furious roar, attacking Zinco. He let out one even louder, even more fierce, as he awaited their assault.

Ignition.

"ROOAAAAA—!"

The other saiyans stopped in their tracks. The ground leapt into the air, and dust covered the area.

In its epicenter, Voshyo stood, bug-eyed and heaving.

"... That's as far as I can go for now, hm?"

— the flame had become a hearth. Kindled by those around it.

Zinco looked back, in shock.

"(I hit him with everything…!)"

Voshyo looked down at his fist. "Love… it's almost miraculous how I've managed to forget my intimacy with the word."

Zinco scowled. "What?"

"Every wound I've given and received. Every breath I've taken. My every vow." With soft eyes befitting one with a dwindling fighting spirit, he stared down his opposition. "Has been 'love'."

He shakily walked toward him, his gang stepping back joyously. "The ability to shape our destiny, to see growth and strength in even defeat and death." His eyes suddenly widened.

"Why of course, that's it."

He rooted his feet into the softened Vege-Voshy-Yamo-PLANT rock. "The Saiyan…"

He reflected on the most indignant aspects — his father's snakish plots and tactics, those who immediately submitted to greater power and sought only the weak.

He reflected on his lost love, his lost warriors.

Voshyo smiled.

"The brightest essence of a Saiyan… is resilience. Isn't that right, Parumi?"

"I don't get it. Who's Parumi?"

He saw no shame, held no pride. "An old flame."

"(... Metal form. For…)"

"My first love."

Zinco audibly gasped. "THEN…!"

"Hmph. Don't you dare get the wrong idea." He looked off. "She was a woman the caliber of which your Kaza could only dream. A fierce kindness that rebelled against the ways of the world, yet worth less than a chef in terms of power. I could sing her praises for eons."

The blonde saiyan scowled. "So why…?"

Voshyo smiled. "Here I am, in much the same predicament as she surely knew, soon after my death." He looked toward his gang. "I was never a leader of men. I held charisma, succession to the throne, and a talent for battle. As I grew stronger, those under my lead tended to die off. Try as I might've to handle all things on my own, I never stopped for them. It seems I've learned little of leadership, over time."

Kaza – still cross from his last remark – looked on in confusion. "Why is he suddenly talking so much?"

"He must be tending to his resolve." Despite his folded arms, Ceushius's brow had softened. "Reminding himself of its importance."

"THAT IS WHY…! HuoooOOO…!" His strand-ish aura pooled into his forearms, causing them to vein, and the air around them to superheat, until the vague outline of two Oozaru jaws surrounded them.

{ Warekai-Ken! }

"From henceforth, this nameless band of mine is hereby DISSOLVED!"

The shocked, distraught cries of the other saiyans bounced around them.

Zinco frowned. "... Yet you're still gonna fight?"

[ BGM: Yamamoto Yuriko – Ai Wa Kokoro ]

"I will not let you, or anyone, slay the Saiyan Fighting Spirit. If you seek to claim this world as your 'Heaven', then I shall seek to claim it for the saiyans. On this, I stake my soul."

Golden strands lined Zinco's shaking fists as they released into palms, a spiritual flame rippled across his being. "Then I'll bet my body…!"

The two took a stance, the terrain rumbling beneath the red sky.

"The ki around his arms, it's…! It's growing past Zinco's!" Kaza began to move, but a massive hand clutched her shoulder. "What-"

"As it stands, they are both on equal terms. This battle may very-well be what both boys need, right now."

Kaza stared at him like a deer in headlights. And then,

"ROOOA-"

"SHAAA-"

Both of their blows made contact with their cores. Zinco hacked blood with vacant eyes, as Voshyo's brows sailed upward, forcing his quivering hand into a fist.

A searing explosion sent Zinco away in a limp, smoldering heap, but he pulled himself together across the splitting grounds and honed back in a flash. His following lunge-cross was parried by Voshyo, whose hook hit air as Zinco limbo'd for another vertical kick; Voshyo bobbed away from it, his leg following before careening from the sky to Zinco in an axe kick. The boy had rechambered in an instant for retaliation, and one's foot collided with the other's knee, splitting the battlefield past the horizon with commotion.

In a sudden push and roar, Zinco swung his leg to the side, it straightening behind his back as both tails suddenly gripped onto each other and allowing no retreat as both reared back a fist, and both punches clashed, and a noise like a heavenly bell rang the plane. Zinco's fist cracked in red, and Voshyo's flashed in and out of ki's empowerment. Zinco skidded back and became a mirage of circular palms. Voshyo raised a brow, before Zinco struck out with one and sent a shockwave across the battlefield, one the former saiyan king defeated with a kiai of his own, before the would-be god emissary lunged toward him, a flurry of punches testing his martial skill as he parried each blow, only for a strong kick beneath his notice to bolt through the air in a crescent and knock the will straight out of him. He fell to a slumber.

Noi's death grin flashed through his mind.

"HRRROAAAA!"

A hook from below almost knocked Zinco's head clean off, splintering the ground for miles across and below, and he fell unconscious.

Kaza's agonized sobbing fell past his eyes.

"Ah-HAAAAAA!"

A reverse kick zipped through Voshyo's guard and zapped his aura away, Zinco pushing himself off of it. He caught himself in a chaotic stumble.

"Gh… nnh…"

The burden of burning bleeding flesh, bruised muscles, and broken bones.

"Hh… mmnh…"

The burden of summoning forth what seemed like an infinite amount of will, simply to blink.

Their every breath seemed to be like their last, before succumbing to exhaustion.

---

"SWEAR! PLEASE!"

---

"No, get back!"

---

"EIAAAAAAA!"

"OAAAAAAAA!"

Two great apes echoed across the saiyan-conquered landscape.

Body and Spirit were placed at breaking point. Both, in green-yellow and orange-red streaks, charged each other down, in a desperate bid to take the other down before they themselves gave in.

They abruptly broke away, an equivocal clash severing the two. Voshyo's ki had met breaking point, and one last, spiritually-vacant attempt to cut Zinco down with a dual-handed chop was, as gruelingly slow as it was, grabbed and thrown over his head with a dying Oozaru's howl, his foe's arms and hands broken and dead by the exchange.

He was left wide open, and Zinco reeled back his weight into a jumping side kick, all in one, zen-like motion.

"IT'S OVER!"

Voshyo struggled to the end, roaring in a vain attempt to swing back down or emit anything from his tattered soul.

"I SAID IT'S OVER!"

"!?"

"...?"

A saiyan had kicked one and back–hand bashed the other away.

"HEY!" Kaza roared.

"WAI-" She was gone before Ceushius could hold her back to explain things.

The other saiyans looked just as surprised, if not more so than Kaza.

"WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT!?" the sharp-toothed djinn yelled to the saiyan walking toward a heaving Voshyo. "DID THAT MAKE YOU FEEL BIGGER OR SOMETHING!?"

The saiyan said nothing, and crouched to his former leader.

"S… era'i, I…"

"Save it," Said Sera'i. "I just needed to check, before you go up in cubes."

"... hmph." Voshyo smiled. "That final blow…"

He nodded. "I've seen how he left Frieza's forces. I… COULDN'T let that happen to you. Say what you will."

Voshyo didn't respond.

"... y'know… there was so much I wanted to say to her…" Sera'i shook. "... but I was too…"

"Don't-"

"But it's true, isn't it?" the young saiyan cried. "That's why…! Why we couldn't grow the same way you can…! She was too weak to fight by you, AND I… I WAS TOO WEAK TO SAVE HER…!"

"... I was the one." A single tear slipped down Voshyo's face. "It was always me."

"JS-SHUT UP!" Sera'i demanded, still kneeling as he stifled. "That's not how it works, you selfish bastard…! You don't get to take the whole fall! If we would've just done more for ourselves instead of following your word like it was law, then…!"

He stopped.

A steady stream now trickled from Voshyo's stoic demeanor. No — a weary frown dragged it down.

"... I just miss her, Voshyo." Sera'i wiped his face. "I can't lose you, too."

Kaza stared at them.

"... ugh. Pick an emotion and stick with it, you stupid child."

She didn't respond. Only refocusing on the unconscious Zinco, before both started fading in cubes.

"... you did it," she whispered. "You're just a bit closer."

---

His feet were kicked from under him. She simply knelt.

"Well, there's no need to ask. Those tails, the armor, unmistakably Saiyan."

From the ribbed cocoon glared two red orbs at the two below. "Would it've killed you to make this simple, 'Voshyo'?"

Voshyo spat. A soldier butted him with a club-like baton.

"So it acknowledges its name, fantastic. Anyway, spare the bravado. You've done nothing but planet-hop for years, it's alright to accept your cowardice. After all, it's doubtless that your troop has long-since done so."

The young would-be king gnashed his teeth, to the overlord's smug delight.

"After all, for a 'warrior race' so insistent on its dominance, what a disservice it must be for their mighty king to run from his foe? All that running, just to delay the inevitable!"

Amid his tormenter's chuckling, Voshyo's head and eyes began to fall, the words that'd hounded him across his mid-adolescence finally spoken aloud by another.

"Stop that!"

His eyes shot open. He turned to the voice that'd deterred those very thoughts.

"As long as the king should live, as long as he should fight, then his people will hold pride!" Parumi yelled to him, eyes alight with fury. "You mustn't waver, nor forget now that the worst has come to pass! Your strength is still needed!"

The words sank into the young man.

"... ah. I see, now."

Both saiyans snapped toward their subjugator again. "It's no wonder you've gone this long without a counteroffensive, despite your criminal record." He looked into the quietly-defiant woman's burning eyes. "You've had a source of strength, all along." A snap of the fingers echoed from within the ribbed cocoon, and guards entered in a rush. "Take her off to a cell. I'd be no different from these barbaric oafs if I so much as laid a finger on her. No, I'll find a way to absolutely shatter that incessant spirit of theirs."

"What!?" Two guards seized Parumi, hauling her off. Her focus wasn't on resistance, however. "VOSHYO!"

The would-be king shot up, knocking back the soldiers around him. "PARUMI!" He pivoted around in a rage, beast-like blast in hand. "I'LL KILL YOU-"

An absurdly-long tail suddenly wrapped around his neck. "First, see the sentencing fit for a vile war criminal."

The small saiyan's eyes filled with horror. Her lover's blast sputtered away in his hands, despite the raging fight in his eyes.

"PA… RUM…!"

"VOSH!"

Voshyo reached out his hand. "WHAT YOU'VE DONE…! FOR ME…! DO FOR…!"

Parumi screamed his name once more, in fits of sobbing, before his hand jerked up. It slowly fell in a heap.

---

[ BGM: Andrew Portier – A Good Person ]

It slowly rose up through the ice-coated lands – which had become sunnier than usual, as of late – before shooting through the air again. Several dozen other forms shot through the air — some infused with ki off force of habit, some quelled. The hand's owner brought it before his eyes with a stern glower, amidst exacerbated heaves.

"Are you doing well, boy?"

The saiyan turned to the musai, quelling his breathing.

"At the moment, this is the extent of my will. Flinging wildly into the air like a beast in pain. Regardless, I don't understand your concern. I was led to believe you've grown a disdain for me."

"I was able to see your true beliefs. What you did was for your people. A pure act, born from a connected free will. I may mourn the loss of life, as may you, but it was ultimately a labor of love." He looked off into the few dark clouds painting the golden sky, and his eyes dropped. "You are still young. I have made far worse mistakes in the centuries I've lived. Believe me, if this is the life you seek, then that was still only the beginning of a long string."

Voshyo belligerently rolled his eyes. "Wonderful."

Ceushius chuckled. "Passive-aggression is a start…"

Voshyo chuffed, returning to his focused air-punching.

"... say, you've confessed to being a horrid leader, correct?"

"Are you going senile? Why does every last statement need verification?"

"Humor me."

Voshyo groaned, and turned to him. "Yes. Why?"

"What reason does conquest serve, if not rulership?"

The young once-lord threw kicks into empty space. "If my subjects aren't saiyans, then what the hell could I possibly want with them? After crushing their strongest forces, I left. Entire planets are different from challengers; there's no satisfaction in subjugating a weak people after besting their strongest, compared to allowing them to coalesce and challenge me, even... stronger!

Voshyo's uppercut soared to the sky.

"(I also never understood politics.)"

"For all your moping about training, you seem to've... stumbled... your way toward figuring it out. But could you not have, say, found weaker battlers out in Conton to rebuild yourself against?"

Voshyo's fist lowered, dripping with sweat. "I've already stated, I've hardly the resolve to strike the wind, much less another. Evem then, it's possible that my original belief was founded on luck, after all. If I'm still alive by battlesend, then clearly, the fight wasn't grueling enough."

Ceushius's mask shriveled a tad. "(There are better takeaways, assuredly…!)"

"... And I wouldn't mind, if those fools who'd still emulate me would train." Voshyo stood to his feet. "If they have any lingering reservations about the practice, then perhaps witnessing me will change that." He turned his head. "... Thank you. Frieza would still draw breath, if not for you."

"You and your lot pushed him to the brink of death, didn't you? He would not have recovered from you and your company's assault, with or without my assistance."

"Hmph. As if I didn't already know that."

He prepared a punch.

Ceushius stopped it.

"...!?"

"Frankly, it hurts to see a saiyan train with such cluelessness."

"Cluelessness!?" Voshyo snarled, snapping back with an even stronger kick for the musai's core; the latter simply leapt back.

"I believe your technique's use of both atomic energy release and a heightened ki focused solely on the fists is a marvel in its own right!" said the massive man as he weaved easily through Voshyo's attacks. "However, the stupendous focus on one means of attacks lends to an ease of counter for seasoned opponents!"

"Then I'll simply grow faster!"

"And you called me senile!?" Ceushius joked, as the two continued to have at it. Over yonder, atop a grassy, frosted hill, Kaza watched in amazement.

"Is it really love?"

She turned from the two to her beloved.

Zinco stared through Voshyo's every moment. "The same thing I felt about you, or about changing the world… when he talked about fighting, and about that Parumi girl, and his friends, he had the same look." His head held a stern glare as it sank. "I couldn't even put out all the fight inside him… look at him. He's gonna get it back again, and when he does, he'll go back to hurting people. Hurting himself."

"Well, um… he DID have his friends to worry about, before he started fighting. You would've made it through to him if they weren't swarming you."

He looked at his palm in a manner he'd never done so before. For the first time, in woe of his strength. "Should that have mattered?"

Kaza's try at a smile faded. "Zinco…" She thought back to her opponent in the tournament, his manic smile. "Maybe you're right. But you DID make him rethink things, thanks to what you did to him. That's a victory." She leaned onto him, cuddling her cheek against his, wrapping her arms around him. "That means you don't need to win completely to change the world. And even if you can't, I'll still be right here by your side."

Zinco melted up, placing a hand over hers. "Kaza…"

The annoying conversation caught Voshyo's attention. "Will you two at least take that somewhere el-"

They met lips. The boy's tail curled to the clouds.

Voshyo stared.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤVoshʸᵒ ˢᵗᵃʳᵉᵈ.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤⱽᵒˢʰʸᵒ ˢᵗᵃʳᵉᵈ.

"KYAAAAA—!"

Zinco and Kaza broke away immediately, less in shame and more to find out where the abnormally baritone schoolgirl was hiding.

"V-VILE! D-DEGENERATE! UNSIGHTLY BEYOND WORDS!" The former warrior king, flustered in a bright red, cast down a gate. "H-HOW DARE YOU DISGRACE THE BATTLEFIELD WITH THESE TURPITUDES!? I WILL NOT STAND FOR THIS!"

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ"NOOO TAKE ME WITH YOU-"

Voshyo vanished.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ"... phooey."

Zinco put on a Neoru imitation.

Kaza blanked.

Ceushius floated, dumbfounded.

Zinco lit up. "... THAT'S IT!"

Kaza's neck literally twisted toward him. "W-W-W-WAIT-W-W-WHA-"

---

Zinco stood, determined.

"..."

Kaza stood somewhere off to the side, less determined.

"..."

"..."

"... zinco it's been two hours can we…"

"..."

"... no… nevermind…"

"..."

A gate appeared, and from it, Voshyo.

"... what in blazes is he doing now?" he asked, southwest of Zinco's line of sight.

Kaza looked back and forth between the two. "I think he's zoned out."

"Voshyo!" Zinco yelled, having instantaneously repositioned himself. Kaza jumped.

"ˢᵒʳʳʸ, Once you get back your strength, I'll fight you. And I'll fight you over and over, forever, until you never feel like hurting anyone ever again!"

Voshyo glared at the boy. "Hrrn…" His arms raised. "Why wait? I've still a roaring flame within this heart. Why so hesitant to snuff it out?"

"?" He looked toward Kaza.

"I… can't heal spirits, actually. Only the stuff I can see in my head."

"Nnh…"

"Hmph. A Saiyan daunting in the presence of a weaker foe's challenge?" He turned his back. "I weep for what's next."

"Fine!"

Voshyo smirked.

Behind him, Zinco clinched his fists, and lowered into a stance.

"(... he's a bit stronger, now.)"

Voshyo walked.

With each few paces, his footsteps grew louder.

With each few paces, his small frown widened.

"(But I don't know how.)"

With each few paces, his brows scrunched higher and higher.

It came to a point where he had to stop. The suppressed cringe was threatening to eat his facial muscles away. Besides, he couldn't ignore the twenty-something saiyans still following him. Before he could tell them off, he was forcibly hauled off by them to the center of the plaza.

He beheld hologram after hologram of their fallen saiyans. He stared in silence, as those still with him roared and cheered. One in particular drew a tear from another in particular.

A smile crept up the warrior king's sullen face.

[ ED: To No Avail – I Called It Love ]

Voshyo's aura poured from him in skybound strands. "With every failure, I'll continue to refine my spirit. Until it is, at long last, unwavering."

Zinco planted his feet within the sun-reflecting ice. "Then even then, I'll be able to stop it."

"Of course you will. You're a Saiyan, after all." He looked to the sky, then lowered his head.

The saiyan bounded toward the saiyan.

"HERE I COME!"

---

Yo! OP Here!

You guys wanna see Zinco have a mental breakdown early?

Here's something from the old draft. Didn't fit, but I threw some effort into it so uuuuh here. See it.

---

Whatever the case,

"YOU'RE STUPID!"

Zinco yelled back.

He slammed onto the ground, causing it to split, and picked himself back up. "What does it take for you all!?" he howled, eyes going feral. "You have everything that anyone could ever want, but you go out and die, anyway…! He racked his head. "And for what? Who are you protecting? Who do you help by dying? You're just hurting the people you care about, AREN'T YOU!? What is it that you don't GET!? Isn't it enough to see how people scrunch when they're in pain!? How people's eyes fade away when they-"

A saiyan stepped to Zinco, charging him. "SPARE US YOUR SELF-RIGHTEOUS PRATTLE YOU DAMN-"

Zinco turned on a dime and charged him right back. "WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN!? NOT EVERYTHING NEEDS A STUPID RESPONSE LIKE THAT!? IT'S NOT THAT HARD TO UNDERSTAND! But I have to keep saying it OVER AND OVER for some reason, and EVERY TIME I DO, I GET ANOTHER STUPID WORD I DON'T KNOW THROWN AT ME! Self-righteous!? Hating violence is SELF-RIGHTEOUS! THEN FINE! I'M SELF-RIGHTEOUS! I LOVE BEING SELF-RIGHTEOUS! WHY AREN'T WE ALL SELF-RIGHTEOUS!? WE SHOULD ALL BE SELF-RIGHTEOUS! SEE!? I CAN USE THOSE STUPID WORDS, TOO!"

"Tch!" Another saiyan spat. "What is it with you bastards and feelin' the need to shape our destiny!?"

Zinco turned to him as if he'd tear him apart in the next moment. "Huh?"

"Lord Voshyo just said it, didn't he? Saiyans are born to fight! Even after we die, we'll still be thrashin' around! And one day, we'll get so damn strong, even Heaven's doors are gettin' kicked in! Maybe if that Saiyan Blood'a yours wasn't so muddled up with soft-hearted Human, you'd get it through that thick skull of yours!"

"..."

He looked to the others around him.

"Is this what 'smart' sounds like to you all?"

The other saiyans grew even more restless.

"... it's useless, then. There isn't any other way…" He violently shook his head. "... NO! WHY NOT TRY!? WHY NOT AT LEAST TRY TO LIVE FOR SOMETHING ELSE!?"

---

And it cut off right around there because after I typed that out, I started thinking and went "wait why would he just start going off on others before considering this shit? Get this melodrama tf outta here lmfao"

So! A lot happened since last time, huh? Month and tendies. Um Magic was real. Daima, rather. Shit concept but the execution looks pretty cool, so that's neat. Alex Mercer vs Cole MacGrath is a thing after over a decade, and the fight was peak fanfiction. Kashimo did not fare as well in his fight, and neither did that one guy in front of him. Props to my boy MacGrath. The other, REAL shit? Not so neat. Won't go any further because I'm not looking to make this session dark.

This chapter took so long because I wanted to REALLY think out the ending of it, which is something I don't do often because I usually a) have a set plan already, b) have taken it in a direction where the end is simple, or c) don't fucking care anymore and rush it. I've noticed a trope I spam with them, as well. Very frequently, the chap wraps up with a talk between characters that tries to tie all loose ends through wordy explanations that states - not shows, but STATES - what they've learned and where they're going from there. Why do I bring it up? Because it's a thing I do that I don't like. Tried to avoid SOME of those cliches here, but I still think characters should talk to each other.

So congrats if you noticed. Yes, I finished Blood Meridian. Yes, I thought Holden was fantastically written. Yes, I fucking hate Holden. Yes, I love Fist of the North Star. Yes, I fucking love Raoh. Yeah so starting from the top, I tried to give McArthy's style a small spin with the ancient Cerealians vs Voshyo shit, because I really like the way old boy wrote. (I gave them a cowboy motif. If anyone, it's them. Stop questioning me.) I also added some ambiguity to that kid's fate, like McArthy added it to my boy THE Kid's at the end of Blood Meridian. At least the "Suzerain " is dead. Shame some of the Judge's ideals persist in Muara. Yeah, I changed her name to better accommodate the Ala-Kazam pun. All I did was remove an R. I probably made her name worse. In any case, Voshyo. This was the last chapter that I'll REALLY get to play around with him in before the tournament ends and I do whatever I see fit. So of course, I made this HIS chapter, and Zinco's, if anything, an antagonist for him to try overcoming. Rounded him out quite soundly, and I GOT MY FUCKING AI WA KOKORO FIGHT! BEST... FUCKING CHAPTER EZEZ!

I mean it would have a solid chance if it weren't thirteen thousand five hundred and forty seven words. This is also the chapter where this entropic epic exceeds 500,000 words. Paradise Lost is only around TWICE as long as this fic. For reference, that factor should always be, at most, TEN. Welp, I wanna explain.

The beginning. I just wanted to flesh out Zinco's Sok-kum background since there's little to no context behind them, as well as Jin's dad. Also, Spirit Transmigration grants the recipient memories of the past users. No, I didn't watch Avatar. Yes, Zinco is literally an Avatar.

FUN FACT I SPENT A FEW FUCKING HOURS TRYING TO FIND OUT WHERE THE FUCK I GOT THE "POMURI" PUN FROM SO TO MAKE SURE THAT NEVER HAPPENS AGAIN, PUN SPEEDRUN!

Sok-kun - A secluded martial arts clan, devoted to creating a god-like being, primarily through millennia of continuously cultivating and passing down one spirit. Pun: Kumsok. A way to write out "Geumsog," Korean for Metal.

Sok-kun Su'un - The seventh "pace" of the Sok-kun, set to usher in said god-like being with her passing. Zinco's mother. Pun: "Sueun", Korean for quicksilver.

Zukki - An eccentric space vagabond with an easy heart and rebellious spirit. Pun: Zucchini.

Bulgur - Stand-in for The Judge. Demon Magic savant that Voshyo narrowly defeated. Pun: Bulgur (Cerealian names were translated with zero nuance.) West-Asian grain dish.

Sera'i - A saiyan of Voshyo's nameless coalition. Saved Voshyo's spirit. Pun: Celery.

Noi - A saiyan of Voshyo's nameless coalition. Died defending Voshyo in the Frieza Counteroffensive. No relation to the Dorohedoro character of the same name. Pun: Nori, a dried seaweed used for flavor in certain Japanese cuisines.

Warekai-Ken: A martial art devised by Voshyo, where all of his ki is diverted toward his fists in exchange for all defense. Uses nuclear fusion to further amp his energy output; a direct, focused hit would shatter a large planet. Pun: Kaiware, a daikon radish sprout.

Pamuri (Formerly Pomuri) - Voshyo's beloved. Small saiyan with strength indirectly proportionate to her will. Pun: Rapum. Latin for Turnip. Do not research further. Results made me very upset.

So with that out of the way, I learned something neat about a month back. Last names in Dragon Ball are NOT common. At all. Videl uses not Gohan's specific surname, but his possession of a surname in GENERAL, to connect him to Goku. Her last name isn't even Satan. Satan is Mark's STAGE NAME. Mark's full name is MARK. MARUKU, RATHER. So yeah, that almost complicates things for me. Last names are just absent from individual consciousness, clan/tribe last names are just used to state where one is from, Mei is just short for Xiaomei, and Yarg connects surnames to magic crests and it just stuck from there. Boom. Done.

One last thing. The Neoru chapter I did. Remember how Mei is the one to fight Yamcha.

It shoulDA FUCKIN BEEN VIDEL. DAMMIT ALL IT SHOULDA BEEN HER.

MEI HAD NOTHING TO GAIN FROM THAT SHIT AND VIDEL HAD A CHANCE TO GAUGE HER STRENGTH COMPARED TO THE OTHER HUMAN MENTORS. THERE COULDA BEEN A THEME OF CONSTANT HARD WORK AND PASSION VS FADING INTEREST. I FUMBLED THAT SHIT. THEN I GAVE MEI HER STUPID SHIT POEM SO IT'S LIKE, HOW DO I FIX THIS!? CAN I!? CAN I FIX THIS!? FUUUUUCK.

But yeah. That's about it. See ya.