"Umm… King Shura-san…" the announcer turned to the Demon King while Mera slowly walked her way onto the tournament arena, swallowing up her opponent whole with her eyes and imagining all the possible punishment she could have inflicted on this human while Krillin engaged in stretching exercises.
"Yes, human." Shura turned back at the announcer. "Have my demons broken any other rules of your tournament?"
"Well, no… But contestant Chayote has not exactly lost the match. If she found a way to return from… Wherever your subject sent her… She would still be able to compete. Do you agree with my assessment?" the announcer scratched the back of his head.
"Hmm… She is your strongest combatant, it seems, it makes sense you cling to that hope so much. It is regrettable that we weren't able to defeat her and prove to you how fruitless your hopes were but… Perhaps, if she does come back, in some way, yes, we will allow her to compete once more." Demon King Shura nodded.
"Subject?" Garlick Jr. turned to Shura, grinding his teeth. "I am Garlick Jr., my father was a rival of Demon King Piccolo himself. I do not reside in the Demon Realm, I am no mere subject of Demon King Shura."
"You will be, once the Demon King takes over the Earth." Piccolo Jr. observed. "If you wish to rule over your pile of rocks and bunch of humans as Kami, you will bend to King Shura's will."
Garlick Jr. threw his fist out, shaking it in front of his face as if preparing to attack his own folk, enraged enough to send crackles of red lightning across his body and send overwhelming blasts of his aura across from his body to the point where his power became visible even to a mere human such as the tournament announcer who took a few steps back. Despite all of his outrage and offense that he felt from Piccolo Jr.'s remark, Garlick Jr. stood down instead of foolishly challenging Piccolo Jr., the trump card of his own race.
"You, human, you look meek. Are you sure you wish to compete?" Mera pointed her finger at Krillin who had finally finished his stretches and took a fighting pose.
"You're the one who should power-up." Krillin cut right back at her, his face looked serious enough to portray just how much not up for fooling around the baldy was.
"Fine, it's your funeral…" Mera extended her arms to the sides and let inside all of the seeping Evil Ki from the fissure in the Dead Zone. Wine-colored Ki burst forth out of her body in the shape of a violet, burning aura while violet lightning bolts crackled around her, forcing the ground beneath the two to shake.
"She powered up…" Yamcha stated the obvious. "Before that, Krillin was leagues ahead of her but what about now?"
"Their Ki are too close to tell. It will not be the difference in power that will decide the victor but in how each fighter uses their strength." Tenshinhan said. "The favorite to win will become clear after the first exchange of fists."
The announcer rushed up to the stage and leaned in to declare the beginning of the second match. Before he could, however, Demon King Shura raised his arm and let out a staunch yell from his chest. A pulse of lightning enveloped the arena, reducing it to utter ashes before materializing a new fighting stage in its place with both of the fighters still on it.
"This ring appears to be important to the tournament, yes? I repaired it for you." King Shura looked to the announcer who just nodded in acknowledgment and declared the beginning of the second match by yelling it out into his microphone.
Mera took off first, the very fraction of a second that the announcer's voice soothed from the strain of declaring the beginning of the second match, she was off and charging at Krillin. With a back-handed smack, she sent Krillin flying toward the wall with the demonic visage carved into the stone while rushing after her airborne opponent in pursuit. The demoness struck with a lion's paw, rampaging all over Krillin's body, displaying long and quick reach with her strikes.
Mighty enough to send shockwaves resonating through the stage with each strike and yet controlled enough with her fury to not devastate the wall behind Krillin and keep him trapped in a corner. It was only when Mera concluded her demonic pursuit with a jumping knee strike that the wall collapsed with Krillin underneath the rubble. Having just pummeled her opponent, the demoness returned to the center of the stage and turned to the announcer.
"So, have I won?" she wondered.
"Well… Normally I must count to ten, then, if the enemy is still down, you will be declared the victor, yes…" the announcer nodded.
"Don't be foolish, Mera!" Garlick Jr. hissed. "Murder that pathetic human right now, do not allow mere rules restrain you! You're embarrassing the entire Demon Race!"
"That would be a cause for disqualification!" the announcer declared.
"To hell with that!" Garlick Jr. floated up above the cowering man and pointed his finger at him, letting a red flicker of light threaten the announcer's life for at any time it might have erupted in a beam that would have left a hole in the announcer's chest cavity.
"What do you mean, to hell with that?" Piccolo Jr. cheeked the floating, blue shrimp. "Didn't you send that hysterical woman to the Dead Zone because you were abiding the rules?"
"Oh… Well…" Garlick Jr. rubbed the back of his head, wondering how best to squirm out of the current situation.
"Don't let that snake throw you off, Mera, if you get disqualified – we'll lose another fighter. You have a chance to weaken multiple humans now. Win by the rules!" Demon King Shura decreed.
"Yes, Great Demon King!" Mera bowed, her hair flowed behind her like mad tendrils of blood-red, aura of wine surrounding her in an outline that carved into one's eyes when attempting to examine the demoness closer. "Begin the count, human!"
"Ouch!" Krillin grunted while rising from the rubble. "Jeez, this lady hits hard!" he mumbled to himself.
"H-He survived!?" Demon King Shura's eyes widened. "Mera is just as powerful as Gora, Gora managed to land hits on their mightiest fighter! What is the meaning of this!?"
"Alright, I guess this makes it my turn now, huh?" Krillin took a fighting pose and prepared to rush at Mera, the demoness cowered at first, thrown back by the sudden and unexpected recovery of her opponent who, while carrying marks of bruising where her nails managed to carve into his scalp and tear his jacket, also having lost his black cap, did not look anywhere close to dying just yet.
Krillin darted at Mera with a flying kick but he could only hit thin air – the demoness had moved out of the way in a feat of instantaneous movement. Having vanished in a snap and left only her afterimage after her to throw Krillin off-guard. The bald martial artist threw his arms up and blocked Mera's double ax handle slam from behind and over his head before jumping up and back over himself, Mera blocked Krillin's overhead kick and the two exchanged blows in a flurry of series of strikes and blocks before a clash with their knees sent the two to the opposite sides of the ring panting.
"I can't believe it… A mere human is equal to Mera in strength, not just Mera's natural power but the very depth of her demonic potential!" Demon King Shura appeared shaken by Krillin's display of strength. He had hoped the shrimpy human to be completely outmatched by one of his two finest demons, especially when empowered tenfold by Garlick Jr's Dead Zone atmosphere leaking onto Earth further.
"No. Mera has a slight edge. Unless her sudden and vast power-up has some sort of a drawback or Krillin figures out some strategy to win this, she will come out on top." Tenshinhan grumbled.
"Yeah, he won't make it easy though. Anyone of us should be able to finish the match from that point on." Yamcha nodded.
"Are you sure, Yamcha?" Chiaotzu turned to his ally, "I seem to recall you having a problem with fighting women. Like that one time training in the Time Chamber…"
"That's why I had to train with Chayote, to learn to get over that, don't worry, I will more than pull my own weight!" Yamcha declared boldly pointing at himself with his thumb and smiling with enough confidence in his abilities to calm even the most distrustful in his skills around him.
"I can fight that demon lady…" Yajirobe butt his large head out of nowhere. "I trained to fight demons too, you know..."
"Of course he's willing to jump in and fight when he has to fight a tired woman-demon…" Chiaotzu shriveled up from the dishonorable and despicable behavior of his fellow member of the Dragon Team.
"Ka-Me!" Krillin put his hands together and pulled them back to his side. "Ha-Me!" a round, blue sphere of Ki manifested in between his hands and covered the entire stage in an outburst of blinding, azure light that sent Mera hissing and reeling back in disgust. The Kamehameha dispersed immediately when Krillin straightened his back out and abandoned his fighting pose in confusion at what he just saw.
"Huh? What's wrong with you?" he pointed his finger at Mera. "Is all that power making you constipated or something?"
"Don't be ridiculous!" Mera shook her fist out in front of her while lashing out at the rude human. "It's that despicable light show of yours!"
"Eh? You mean you don't like bright lights too much?" Krillin scratched his head and then looked up at the sky. "Come to think of it, the skies have been pretty lousy and gloomy lately and even Upa was unable of fixing them with his magic. You guys wouldn't have had something to do with that, would you?"
"Hmph… So you have discovered it, human… That's right, we demons from the Demon Realm are not too receptive to natural bright lights. Sunlight and even the light of life itself weaken us. That is why we have made efforts to adapt your world to our needs for months before invading, just to make sure that your bothersome sunlight wouldn't get in the way." Demon King Shura explained.
"Oh, I see…" Krillin scratched his head and then put his hands up over his head. "Solar Fist!" he yelled out, provoking a radiant surge of white light to fire out and blind everyone in the vicinity. Mera hissed and screamed out in pain as the crimson outburst of Dead Zone's aura puffed away in smoke. She covered up her eyes and continued to wail as if the pain in her eyes was sufficient to outright claw them out.
The bald martial artist rushed at his subdued opponent and delivered a powerful and focused cross to her mid-section. Mera's eyes shot wide open, whited out while her usually elegant face twisted out in a dishonorable expression of pain which did her aura of dignity no favors. In a single breath, the demoness wheezed out all of her air while she flew right out the ring and landed at the lawn on the other side sprawled out and twitching in pain which resonated throughout her entire body.
"Ring Out! Contestant Krillin has won the battle!" the announcer raised his fist up into the air. "After a stalemate in the first match, humanity has won its first match with contestant Krillin carrying his bold performance onward to the next round!"
"Teehee…" Krillin rubbed the shapeless area where his nose should have been, looking all too proud of the fact that he had figured out such a method of dealing with the immense power-up of his opponent with a single flash of light.
"Interesting, it appears that the demons require to actively focus on drawing the power from the Dead Zone. That is why Krillin stressing Mera out by exposing her to her natural weakness forced almost all of her strength to dissipate…" Tenshinhan observed. "Using natural light was the obvious solution but I cannot help but admire Krillin's method of thinking."
"Of course, he did use our technique, after all!" Chiaotzu nodded with a blank expression.
"I cannot believe it, both of my precious subordinates defeated…" Demon King Shura growled with his fist clutching hard enough to draw his own blood. "Not to mention, the fact that these humans appear capable of drawing from the power of sunlight itself somehow, even if I do make my own way onto the stage, even I shall be easily defeated."
"Hmph… Then perhaps you allow my crew to deal with this little pest infestation problem you have there, oh Great Demon King!" Garlick Jr. smirked and raised his arm to point toward his crew of chuckling minions.
"B-But the sunlight technique…" Demon King Shura shook in his boots.
"Does not affect my crew whatsoever. I have spent ample time on Earth, my demons have grown accustomed to the sunlight and my father has lived and trained on the God Temple for decades preparing for the God Trials. Immunity to sunlight is within my blood." Garlick Jr. laughed out after seeing one obvious strength he possesses over the mighty Demon King.
"Piccolo Jr…" Shura turned to his ace fighter. "The plan is to save you for last."
"That's fine by me." Piccolo Jr. nodded with a grumpy expression. "Let those humans decimate Garlick Jr.'s crew and waste all of their measly power trying to do so. I'll take care of Son Goku and what's left of them after. Don't you dare mock me thinking for a second that something as trivial as sunlight bothers me, the reincarnation of the Great Demon King Piccolo!"
"Very well, Garlick Jr. you may send your henchman to battle in my stead." Demon King Shura nodded, approving of Garlick Jr.'s declaration.
"Ginger! Make sure to kill this human. It doesn't matter if you get disqualified…" Garlick Jr. chuckled. "I'm more than willing to finish off the few stragglers that remain after you three have your fun."
"Yes!" Ginger, a short demon of dark olive skin, skull-like nose and a general appearance of a bald bat with red eyes smiled with malicious intent oozing from him and leaped onto the fighting stage. With a beam of lightning from his right hand, Demon King Shura rematerialized the wall that Mera had destroyed while pummeling Krillin.
"So I guess there's no use trying to weaken you with my Solar Fist, is there?" Krillin wondered, smirking through the trouble at hand while his eyes appeared strict and analytical of the situation and his opponent.
Ginger grabbed the front of his red cloak and swiped it back, pushing the entirety of his cloak apart and revealing his appearance while his cloak hung and rustled behind him like a cape. His tall, beady skull and pointy, long ears now were out in the open for all to see. A true demonling of his master's clan.
Ginger extended his arms to the side and allowed the leaking atmosphere of the Dead Zone to shower him and enhance his strength. The demon grew thrice his size, pumping up with brutality as his upper body grew increasingly misshapen compared to normal body proportions even compared to the other demons that the Dragon Team had seen that day.
"He seems weaker than those two guys before him," Yamcha noted. "I don't think Krillin is going to have that much trouble with this guy."
"Indeed, his strength doesn't seem too impressive even after taking in the Dead Zone's power but… The absence of weakness to sunlight might just cause Krillin some minor trouble. With there being no easy way to beat them, the only way is to just power through them which will wear Krillin out eventually." Tenshinhan stated with a serious expression, looking much less calmed by the seeming lack of fright-inducing Battle Power from the enemy henchman.
"Grilled Pork!" Ginger yelled out while charging ahead at Krillin.
"What kind of battle cry is that?" Krillin leaned back on his right foot, taking on a defensive approach as the enemy's unorthodox battle cry took him by surprise.
Despite the disadvantage he was in, Krillin put up his hands and blocked every single strike thrown his way before swatting the enemy aside with a kick of his own and preparing a comeback attack. Like a red arrow, Krillin rushed onward before Ginger put up his arms and formed an invisible barrier that the bald fighter bounced off of.
"Damn…" Krillin rubbed the front of his head which appeared to swell up with red after hitting the Kiai barrier with his face, completely oblivious and ignorant of its existence.
"Heh heh… Begone, Ginger Buster!" Ginger put his two palms together to concentrate his Ki into a single, pink energy wave aimed right at Krillin. The beam rose up a pillar-shaped explosion and left an entire quarter of the ring decimated with a decent crater looming underneath.
"Did dat bald guy go pop!?" Yajirobe freaked out. "We gotta scram, dose demons are gonna eat us alive!"
"Calm down," Chi-Chi looked at the chubby ronin. "Hasn't Mr. Popo taught you to sense with your Ki and not track the battle with your eyes?"
The rest of the Dragon Team followed Krillin's Ki signature to the skies, where the airborne combatant had his arms cupped up to his side and preparing a Kamehameha during the off-time that the whiff of the enemy's strongest attack provided him with.
"Kamehameha!" Krillin yelled out, unleashing a devastating Ki wave that howled in its pathway toward the enemy.
Krillin landed before his downed enemy and turned back at his folks, giving them the peace gesture. Ginger had still been inside the ring, however, the arena had been totally devastated by Krillin's Kamehameha and therefore Ginger laid on an empty and destroyed patch of land, therefore outside of the destroyed area of the ring. He had won the next battle the moment it started.
"Don't you get cocky with me! Infernal Slasher!" Ginger squealed out after jumping back to life and charging at Krillin, his Magic Materialization ability conjuring up two scimitars which he used to slash at Krillin with a cross-shaped charge.
Having little time to react to the attack, Krillin raised his arm up and shoved it in between the crossing edges of the blades before they came into contact with his throat. Two, even streaks of red ran down his injured wrist but the scimitars popped and broke under pressure while Krillin stared at his opponent with a bemused look.
"I… I… I give up!" Ginger screamed out, fleeing from his grumpy opponent but before he could find solace by his master's undersized lap, the image of Demon King Shura blocked off his retreat. A coil of energy spiraled around his right arm which the demonic fighter held cocked back and ready to strike.
"Demon Spiral Fist!" Shura grunted out and threw his fist out, unleashing a charged-up spiral of Ki at the injured demon and reducing him to shreds of burnt up strings scattered across what remained of the ring after the brief exchange. The Demon King jumped off the ring and extended his arm, allowing his Magic Materialization to materialize the ring back anew.
"Your henchmen will abide by the tournament's rules and bring embarrassment to the Demon Race no longer, Garlick Jr. Stand in line or face the wrath and judgment of the Demon King Shura and his Demon Spiral Fist." Shura put up his duke before Garlick Jr., using his destroyed henchman as an example of what would happen if his demons stepped out of line again.
Piccolo Jr. snickered to himself, having found his superior's show of force toward the irritating turquoise dwarf rather amusing.