The Saiyan Gamer


Chapter 14: The Juggernaut

My dreamless sleep was harshly interrupted by a sudden urge to throw up.

Before my eyes even opened, my body snapped upright and I knew something was wrong. When I did open my eyes, I found myself on the floor, in a room made entirely of wood. There was no bed, no draws, just the room and a bucket in the corner. The entire room rocked back and forth continually.

When I tried to wipe my eyes, I realized that they were pinned behind my back. I looked over my shoulder, realizing that metal chains flowing with a strange blue light were wrapped around my wrists, keeping them from moving. I called for my energy, ready to break them off, but nothing came back.

What's going on? I tried again, but failed to call up any Ki. Beginning to panic, I stood up and walked over to the metal door, only to find out that it was tightly shut and wouldn't budge.

"WHERE AM I?!" I yelled, and upon receiving no response, I slammed my head into the door. It was clearly made with material much stronger than I thought it was because it left me with a nasty bruise and a pounding head.

My heart began to drum violently in my chest, becoming even worse when I took a look at my stat sheet.

Stat Sheet

HP: 4,446

KI: 0 (Supressed)

Strength: 39 +

Endurance: 18 +

Intelligence: 16 [Basic] +

Available Stat Points: 8

Power Level: 741

How is my Ki suppressed?! I sat down against the closest wall, not sure what to do. First, though, I took a deep breath and tried to calm my racing heart. I'd faced worse odds than this before. Raphalos was much more terrifying than this. I just needed a plan.

Once I got a hold of myself, I took a look at my mini-map. I was on a strangely shaped object and surrounded by what looked like water. We were heading towards Mossgrove city, or at least in the direction of it. When I expanded the map, I realized that, yes, we were in the ocean.

A ship. I realized. I hadn't been on one in a long time, but they were very common on Planet X32, although they were made of sturdier material than wood. The swaying of the room now made much more sense.

Next, I took a note of the people around me on the minimap. There were many red dots, but there were a few dots that were yellow, which was a color that I've never seen before. The closest was in the room next to mine. I'd have to check that out in a minute, but before that, I looked back on the land, and with a grin, I saw three green dots following the boat's path, slowly getting closer. My friend's were coming for me.

I wouldn't let myself be saved like some weakling, though. I was going to fight. Bringing my character sheet back up, I looked over my stats and decided where I'd put my new points. Luna would probably be disappointed, but intelligence could wait for now. I was trapped in enemy territory, and I needed to get out before they figured out that I wasn't going to give them what they wanted.

I put three points into endurance, and five into strength, bringing my power level up to 845. Two interesting notifications popped up again, revealing that for reaching a milestone, I'd been granted one special skill per stat.

Strength Stat Has Reached Level 40! You've Been Granted A Special Strength Skill!

Iron Body - Once per combat, you can will your muscles to harden to extreme degrees, reducing an incoming attack by half and nullifying piercing attacks.

Endurance Stat Has Reached Level 20! You've Been Granted A Special Endurance Skill!

Full Restore - Stamina is now restored automatically once combat is over. (Restrictions Apply)

That is… Extremely useful. I thought, filing it away for later. Now, I focused on whatever the yellow dot was.

"Hello?" I called out from the wall connected to their room. It was silent for a few seconds before I felt a strange movement in my head. Intrusive and slimy didn't begin to describe it, especially when I realized that I couldn't stop it.

'Hello.'

That wasn't my voice, I realized, sweat pouring down my face. It was a female voice, one that I hadn't heard before. Gulping silent, I asked, "Are you... Are you inside of my head?"

'Yes.'

Ignoring the creepy reality, I pushed on, "Who are you? And how are you doing this?"

'My name is Zaria,' She said, and I recognized it immediately. 'As for how I'm doing this, it is called a mind-link, made possible with my magic.'

"You're the one who launched that mist attack at me," I said slowly. "Was that also your magic?"

'Yes.'

Taking a small break from the conversation, I wondered if the game knew anything about this 'magic'. What is magic?

Magic, otherwise known as Mana and Arcane Energy, is a form of energy that not many in the universe can utilize. It is extremely rare and can do a great many things, many of which Ki cannot. Ki and magic are not mutually exclusive, but it is extremely difficult to combine.

It's powerful. It went through my Ki shield like it wasn't even there. I thought for a second, remembering her sheets description, before continuing to talk with her.

"What else can you do with your magic?" I asked.

'Teleportation, mind disturbance, invisibility, the sleep spell, and a few other smaller spells that take too much mana..'

"You're a prisoner here too, aren't you?" I asked, despite knowing the answer. She didn't reply, so I continued. "Do you want to escape?"

'I can't. I'm not powerful enough.'

"Why not? Can't you just teleport us far away?"

'Teleporting that long of a distance is extremely painful, and takes most of my mana. I'm still recovering from teleporting us to this ship.'

I paused to think for a few seconds, a new idea popping up. "In that case, do you think you could teleport these handcuffs off of me? I saw you teleport Gune right out of Turles' hands before."

'I… I could try.'

With a pop, she appeared in my room, and for the first time, I was able to get a better look at her. Her hair was brown and short but spiked upwards. Her mouth was sealed shut with tape, and her arms were also bound. Clearly, it didn't block her mana like it blocked my Ki. Her face was dirty, and so were her clothes, which I noticed were far too big for her. I made eye contact, which she swiftly broke.

"Why are you trusting me?" I was inclined to ask, even though it might have screwed up my plan. I didn't plan on killing her, partly because she was helping me, but also because her strange power intrigued me. However, she didn't know that, which made her actions weird.

'I just want them to pay for what they've done. To me and to everyone they've used me to hurt. Even if you kill me as soon as your handcuffs are off, as long as you kill them afterward, I'll die happy,' She spoke, a strong determination in her voice that wasn't at all present before. 'But, I know that you won't kill me.'

"How?" I tilted my head to the side, staring at her in wonder.

'I'm in your head. You don't have any desire to hurt me.'

"Cool…" I said slowly. I wonder if I can learn magic.

'First, you're going to need to take off the tape. My magic is a lot easier to cast when I can breathe properly.'

I turned my back to her and leaned forwards, trying to get my hand as close to her mouth as possible. Eventually, we got there and I pulled it off. A few seconds later, the metallic feeling on my wrist vanished. When I turned, the handcuffs were on the floor in the corner of the room.

My energy immediately started to refill, and I flexed my arms, glad to have my freedom back. My first line of duty though… I walked over to Zaria, turned her around, and with a powerful, Ki-filled chop, I shattered the metal handcuffs on her.

'Thank you…'

"Least I could do," I replied. "Now…"

I paused midstep, my eyes drifting onto Zaria's slightly exposed shoulders. Even on just that small amount of skin, there were dozens of scars, shocking me. I stared at them until she noticed and pulled her shirt over the exposed skin.

"Did… Did they do that to you?"

'Yes…' She said, her voice timid again. 'And worse. They did whatever they wanted with me, claiming that because I was weak, I had to serve them.'

"What else did they do?" I questioned as a deep scowl spread across my face.

'Let me show you…"

She placed a hand on my forehead, and the world shifted in an explosion of colors. Days passed in seconds, and yet somehow I was able to comprehend all of it. She showed me all of the abuse and torture that they'd put her through; from beatings and whippings, to forcing her to do things so disgusting that I felt like throwing up in my mouth.

It wasn't just the memories that she was giving me, which made the experience even more intense. I realized as embarrassment, sadness, and a burning rage rushed through every part of my body, that this wasn't my emotions. They were hers. And her fury towards them burned brighter than anything that I'd ever felt, making my anger towards my family like a campfire next to a forest ablaze.

When the connection dropped, so did I. My body hit the ground, and the contents of my breakfast spilled on the wooden floor. Tears built up in the corner of my eyes, something that hadn't happened since I was a child. I held them back, but what I wasn't able to hold in, was the emotion that hadn't left with the vision. It still burned bright inside of me and wondered if that was her plan all along.

Because before, I was just going to cause some havoc until my teammates arrived but now… Now, I was going to burn this whole ship to the ground.

Mission Created!

Trouble On The Juggernaught!

Main Objective - Stay true to your word and destroy the Juggernaught.

Bonus Objective: Kill Vishar with your bare hands. (Difficulty Level - XXX)

Reward:

5000 EXP

Massive Reputation Increase With Zaria

Accept?

"I'm not going to let anyone hurt you like that again," I told her, emotions still running on high. I turned to the door, ready to bust it down, but even through the anger, I stopped myself.

"Is Vishar the strongest?" I asked, concealing my rage. Our rage.

'Yes, but there are a few who aren't far behind him.'

Crap. I might have been able to take him along, but with all of the other pirates too? I grumbled as I thought. Zaria cut back in quickly.

'The main focus of this pirate group is targeting objects, or people of high value, so that they can either sell the item or use a victim for blackmail,' She revealed. 'These targets are usually guarded by powerful people, or powerful people themselves. Without me, they wouldn't be able to pull it off.'

I thought for a second before the realization hit me. "So you're telling me that there are other prisoners on this ship? Some that are stronger than Vishar himself?"

She nodded her head, and a sinister smirk grew. They wouldn't know what hit them.

A red dot approached, and the plan sprung into motion.


Vishar was a successful Saiyan, or so he boasted to every enemy that he captured.

Every goal, person, or item that he wished to obtain, it was only a matter of time before that item was in his possession. No one could deny him, and although he himself was only a lower second class, his ship's name was known throughout all of Planet Plant.

The Juggernaught.

And their plan was a simple one. With their numbers, they would wear down an opponent until they were tired, and then he'd use his secret weapon to put them to sleep. Zaria was a useful little slave, and he'd continue to use her until her usefulness ran out, which likely wasn't any time soon.

Her sleeping spell couldn't put down an extremely powerful person if they were fully prepared, but after a long fight, when their mind was mentally exhausted, that was when Zaria's power shun the brightest. Also, when in need of a quick exit.

Today, with the filthy Saiyans from the city of Galar, that was a special case. Gune had been so desperate to save his people that he offered Vishar a quarter of the money if they helped. It was a very last-minute job, only possible because the Juggernaught crew had been coming back from another job, but when Vishar found out that the kids were from Omato town, he couldn't turn down the offer.

Gune clearly didn't know what the kids possessed, but the fact that they had to go out of their way and into danger just to sell the item, it spoke for its rarity. Vishar put together a theory rather quickly. He'd heard the rumor going around that two kids had stolen the Heir of Avross Mountain, and that those two kids were from Omato village. Even the chance that they could be holding the Egg meant that they had to be taken in. Thankfully, the now dead Gune told Vishar that the white haired one could carry things somehow, hidden away, so they had only needed to take that one.

He had another reason for the capture, though, although it was lesser. Killing even one person from Omato village gave him great satisfaction. His cousin had banished him over 10 years ago, but the pain was still fresh. Whenever he killed someone from that town, it felt like he was strangling Omato himself. He grinned, even the mental thought bringing him joy.

Now that they had the kid, all they needed to do was get to Mossgrove and get the boy to release the item. Mossgrove, while it used to be a major Tuffle city, was cut off when the barrier went up. Since then, the Tuffles there adapted, selling technology to Saiyans and occasionally buying things that they believed were of value.

Mossgrove city is where all of the purge ships came from. No Saiyan that he knew had the technology or the brains to build something so advanced. Repurpose or figure out how all the wires worked, sure, but Vishar had once seen the machines that the Tuffles used to create those ships, and no Saiyan was smart enough to build one of those.

The reason that it hadn't been destroyed immediately following the barriers being erected, was because, although the Tuffle Empire seemingly abandoned it, they promised that if any Saiyans attacked the city, the Tuffle Empire would respond with ample force. And coming from the Tuffles, that wasn't an empty threat.

Of course, the Tuffles of Mossgrove still hated Saiyans, and the Saiyans hated them back, but they'd come to a mutual understanding, for now. Without the Saiyans, their city would have tumbled into poverty, and without the Tuffles, Saiyans wouldn't have Scouters, spaceships, and other fancy Tuffle inventions. One of which being the Ki blocking handcuffs that he used on all his prisoners. They were made during the Great War, but they still had their uses.

A knock on the door prompted Vishar to look up, an annoyed scowl on his face. His crew knew not to interrupt him after a mission. He didn't respond, going back to planning their next heist. The next knock was stronger, and that was when Vishar knew that something was wrong. A second later, the door exploded off of its hinges, and two of his crewmates came tumbling into the room with their necks snapped.

Vishar stood up, opened his mouth to yell, but his blood ran cold when he saw exactly who had just entered his room. The man in front of him was a giant, standing at nearly 7 foot tall. He was almost completely bold, apart from a small, thin mustache. Even despite being starved for the last few months, his muscles didn't look at all smaller.

The sound of screams and battle now reached Vishar's ears, and his eyes widened in shock. But that wouldn't matter, because there was no way that he was going to win this fight. Obviously, that didn't mean he'd go down without a fight. Reaching under his desk, he grabbed a hold of his sword but didn't pull it out just yet.

"Nappa…" Vishar spoke softly, throwing a smile on his face. "I see you've escaped your prison cell…"

"Not only me, you pathetic worm," Nappa spat out his words. Nappa was a powerful, first-class warrior with ties to the family of Vegeta. and Vishanti thought that he could blackmail Vegeta into paying for Nappa's release. He never got back to him, so he just kept Nappa. That was a mistake.

"If you let me live, I'll pay you handsomely," Vishanti said, a charming smile still on his face. "You know I have the mon-."

"You're lucky that I don't break your back and bring you back home to torture," Nappa growled, shutting Vishanti up. "Unlike you, I have honor. The one who released me said that I could kill anyone else on the ship, as long as I left you to him."

Vishari paused, eyebrows raised in confusion. "Him? Who?"

The answer was swift.

Two arms broke through the wall behind Vishari, one arm snaking around his neck, and the other around his arm, which held the sword. Although the pirate couldn't see the man behind him, he could feel his breath on the back of his neck, and his grip tightening by the second.

"You've done a lot of things in this life, but it was forfeit when you decided to mess with me and my friends. For that…" The person's voice was laced with anger, only getting louder with each word. "You will suffer."


Freeing everyone from their cells had been easy. As soon as the unfortunate pirate entered my room, I knocked him out with a single blow, before moving on and breaking down each door. It didn't take longer than a few minutes, and to my pleasant surprise, Zaria was right. A decent amount of them were powerful, and one, in particular, had an incredible power level.

I told them that I'd release them, but only on the condition that they'd leave Vishanti for me. They agreed, more than happy to take out their frustration on the other crew members. On the way to the office, Zaria showed me where he kept his treasure. There was a lot of it; money, weapons, and other strange objects, but I didn't have time to look. I stuffed it all into my Safe Place before moving on.

By the time I got to Vishanti's office, a great many of the crew members were dead, and a part of the ship was on fire.

Now, I held Vishanti by the neck, ready to snap it. Power surged through me, and alongside it, my anger. Zaria's memories flashed through my mind. My arm tightened, and a notification popped up.

Your Great Anger Has Given You A Temporary Boost In Your Strength Stat!

I didn't bother checking, instead going in for the kill and beginning to jerk my arm to the right, ready to end his life. However, his free elbow lashed out and back, slamming into my face and forcing me to let go and stagger back. The very next second, I was forced to dodge to my left, narrowly avoiding a glowing red sword from piercing my stomach.

"You?" His voice was low, and full of poison. His eyes blazed, as he pulled the blade from the wall and charged at me, his sword raised above his head, energy crackling off of it like lightning. "How dare you?! You insignificant little child!"

He swung at me with his sword arm, but I dodged it and struck him across the face, much to his obvious surprise. Using the momentum of the punch, he swung his body completely around, his sword coming back down on me at a diagonal angle. I barely jumped back in time, receiving a fine slice across my chest.

He was on me quickly, continuing a stream of steady attacks. I dodged them, and occasionally I'd hit him, but he'd slice me back in return. I still had the sword that I'd made a week ago with Turles, but because I didn't know how to channel my Ki around it just yet, it would be useless in this fight. It wouldn't match up to his, which was vibrating with Ki.

All of a sudden, his intensity turned up a notch and he lunged at me, stabbing his sword into my shoulder and piercing me to the wall. He moved in for a punch with his other hand, but I had better ideas. At this range, there was no way that I'd miss, so with a powerful scream, I released a point-blank mouth beam.

The attack slammed into his surprised face in a massive explosion. Every hallway around us erupted simultaneously, launching me back so far that I went flying out of the side of the ship. I realized, as my body ached, that the attack did damage to me too. I should have expected that, especially with how much energy that I'd put into it.

"And I was told that you were the weak one…" Vishra's voice rose from the smoke, followed by his body, which came into view a second later. His entire figure was smoking, and his Ki had dropped by a considerable amount.

I didn't reply, simply bringing my fists up and waiting for an attack, ignoring the burning sensation in my shoulder. He chuckled, which turned into full-blown laughter. Behind him, the massive Juggernaught began to explode at various points, as members tried to escape, but were cut down by the prisoners that I'd released. I could see Zaria standing on the deck of the ship, staring up at the battle.

"You purge babies really think that you're something special, just because you've conquered worlds," He said once his laughter died down. His expression was then replaced by a predatory grin that didn't betray the great fury he felt towards me. "But killing things weaker than you isn't experience at all. Not real experience. Real experience comes from war with beings that are your equal. It granted us skills, and I've only improved mine with years. You have no chance, now that I'm taking you seriously."

His entire demeanor changed, his scarlet sword coming in front of his body and pointing straight up. I hesitated to attack, but then remembered that his power level wasn't far above mine, even if his level was four higher. I could take him, sword or not. I charged at him, fist reared.

He dodged to the side before I even got within arm's length, his sword flickering out with lightning speed. I didn't even feel the pain until a few seconds later when the smell of burning made me look down. Blood trickled down my side, where there was now a small, deep cut. The wound looked like it was sizzling, and the blood around it vanished into steam a few seconds later.

I tried to attack again, but he moved in the same way as before. He wouldn't let me get close enough for me to attack, but I was still in the range of his sword. I tried again, this time rushing at him, before flying up above his head and coming down with a kick.

That proved to be a mistake, because he simply slashed his sword up at me, cutting across my thigh and past it, slicing a deep line vertically up my cheek. It would have cut out my eye if I didn't move to the side just in time. He didn't let me retreat from this one though, grabbing me by the leg and throwing me back towards the Juggernaught.

My body broke through its outer layer, and I went rolling into a dark room that clearly wasn't used very often. I rolled to my feet, but winced in pain, feeling the intensity of the burning injuries.

Vishra floated into the hole that he created, a smug look on his face, even as his ship began to sink. He walked over to me slowly, and I backed up quickly as he did, not sure how to deal with his sudden change in fighting style.

"You see now? Power level is important, but with skill, you can even overcome opponents stronger than you," He said, still fast approaching. "In your case, it is simply to show you your place. Now die, like the pathetic weakling that you are."

He dashed at me, sword poised to plunge into my heart. I could tell that a ridiculous amount of Ki was focused on the blade, this being his killing blow. My mind flickered through possibilities, before settling on one. It was risky, but risks provided great results.

I floated a mere foot up, and his sword sliced into my stomach, rather than my heart. He looked at me in shock, obviously not having expected me to just take the attack. I grinned up at him as blood dripped out of my mouth. That attack would have done plenty of damage, but just as it entered my body, I'd activated Iron Body, reducing the attack in half and halting the blade where it was. So, while he wasted most of the rest of his Ki, I still had more than enough to beat him.

"Wha-!"

He was stopped mid-sentence by me grabbing onto the hilt of his sword. With a swift, powerful chop, I broke his forearm, shattering the bone into pieces. He shrieked in pain, letting go of the blade and trying to jump back, but I wasn't done with him yet.

With the sword still partially in my stomach and boiling heat spreading around it, I jumped after him. Fear was now on his face, and I relished in it. He was on the defensive now, blocking my punches, until his Ki finally ran out, and I kicked him so hard that he broke through the floorboards and into the room below. I followed him in, landing in front of him.

He was now out of Ki, and I wasn't too far behind. I couldn't hit him with any attacks that would put him out for good, so it was likely that this fight would devolve into a fight without Ki. I pulled the sword out of my stomach, holding it in my hand but still standing at a distance. The wound closed itself the moment the weapon was out of my body but my HP was dropping quicker by the seconds. I could feel my insides burning.

My opponent got to his feet a few seconds later, wincing in slight pain and looking at me in fear and apprehension. His eyes fell on the scar on my stomach, before saying, "You're crazy. That wound will kill you in the next hour or so."

"You'd be surprised what I can heal from," I told him, brandishing the sword in front of me in a copy of the form that he had done previously.

"I may be out of Ki, but you're looking exhausted already," He noted, something that I didn't notice until that moment. I shouldn't have been surprised. "I may not be able to hurt you much while you still have ki, but I just have to outlast you, until you're too weak to fight, and then I'll kill you."

"You'll try."

I flew at him, faster than he could react without his Ki. Somehow, maybe by pure instinct, he dodged to his side, but he wasn't fast enough to dodge it as I dug my feet into the ground and spun in a 360, dragging the blade along with me. The blade cut into his side as he tried to evade.

His eyes widened considerably, his first real injury seemingly snapping him out of his arrogance. While still holding onto his bleeding side, put his hand up. "Wait! If you let me live, I'll give you all the fortune I have! Just don't kill me!"

I didn't consider it, the memories that I'd experienced not even giving way to such thoughts. "You will die. You will never hurt someone the way that you hurt Zaria again."

He smirked, looking at someone behind my back. I turned to see Zaria, with her hands extended in our direction. With a certain smugness, he said, "Do it."

A second later, mist spread through the room. He stood up, grinning as if victory was assured. "Good work, Zaria. You'll be rewarded well."

"Did you really think that she came down here to help you?" I asked, tilting my head and smirking widely. I hadn't anticipated her joining in, but now that she did, victory was assured.

"What?" He said, his voice already going limp. He turned to Zaria, who walked over to us both, more confident than before. He no longer had the energy to block the punch that collided with his face, making him fall back onto his ass.

"That felt… Good," She finally spoke using her real voice. I grinned at her, before walking over to my downed enemy and placed my foot over his unbroken arm.

"Make sure that he doesn't fall completely asleep, I want him to feel everything that I'm about to do to him."

Enemy Defeated!

12,500 EXP!

Level Up!

Enemy Territory Has Been Claimed!

Due To Defeating Vishra, You Have Gained A Skill!