Dragon Ball: Untold IC

[Naval Monte]

Sol System- Mars Summer 506 AU

AEGIS HQ

“Director, we’re having a bizarre reading,” an aide approached Kuznetov. “An unknown object is approaching Mars.”

The white haired director walked over to the computer. “Are you sure it isn’t some asteroid approaching us?” she asked the aide.

“Well, it could be,” she admitted. “But it wasn’t in any of our star charts, and it just appeared. It doesn’t seem like it’s a PTO pod, either.”

“Could it be an Earthship? Maybe one of ours?” Kuznotov was now getting puzzled by the readings, if slightly unnerved.

“More importantly have you checked to make sure these readings are real and not the result of a glitch?”

“I am certain this is no glitch, Director.”

The director cursed as she turn her attention back to the screen.

“Do we know where it will land?”

The aide looked at the tablet.

“Estimates place it landing near a small human and torhan settlement in approximately one hour.”

“How deveasting will the impact be to the town?” Kuznotov knew they didn't have time to evacuate the residents of the town. All they can hope for is that the asteroid is on a smaller size and it would at best produce a shockwave that would shatter windows and other glass structures.

The aide scrolled through some more of the data.

“It doesn’t appear that it will strike any of the residential areas. It should land safely in a field a few klicks west of the town. Should we assemble a team to check it out?”

The director nodded. “I need to make sure no one gets hurt. More importantly I want evidence of it being an asteroid so the damn monkeys don’t make up conspiracy theories of us testing spaceborne weapons against them.”

“Yes ma’am,” the aide saluted Kunzetov and went off to assemble the team.

---

Dunwich, Mars

Off the fields of the town of Dunwich the regular town activity was put on standstill as news arrived off an asteroid about to crash land their location. Most chose to leave their work or homes and find shelter but a few choose to be outside to record the impact.

From the sky a blue light can be seen glittering.

The blue light gradually grew brighter as it was getting closer.

Soon a blue streak was seen as the fireball was falling down a known campsite that was popular for tourists.

It took only a few minutes for the fireballs to finally impact the Martian soil and even less so for the shockwave of the impact to hit the town. Not only did a powerful gust rock the homes and apartments, but windows cracked or shattered, and cars began to sound off alarms.

While a detachment team from AEGIS was sent to investigate the impact site they would have been beaten by a small group of town residents who got into their vehicles and drove to see the impact site itself.

Those who made it would find a blue light coming from the crater. A strange light and music coming from the crater as well as a strong pull to come closer to the crater….

---

It took two hours for the team sent from AEGIS to finally reach the impact site. However when the team arrived the blue light and music was absent. Instead they found an empty crater and abandoned vehicles.

Exploring the town they would find that the entire settlement was empty. Even the quarters home to Tohran resided were empty of their presence.

The team was left slightly confused but most were concluding that most of the town folk merely left the town after the impact. At least that is the explanation for the humans. The Torhans are still a mystery.

The team would leave the deserted town of Dunwich to report back what they have found. As they left the town most would hear faintly the faint echo of a song coming from the nearby mountains.

[Britanania]

Red Palace, New Saiya, Mars, Early July 506 AU

Across the Red Planet, battles raged as the Tohran Insurgents and the Saiyan military duelled for supremacy. The early success of the Tohrans in the past week emboldened the race, but the Saiyan government was not going to sit idle, and Queen Mother Arsle was not one to take defeats lightly.

"I assure Your Highness, we are doing everything in our power to--"

"No more excuses!" Arsle yelled at one of her commanders during a strategy meeting. "I have heard nothing but excuses from you and your parasitic kind. You are fortunate my daughter is not here to--"

Before Arsle could continue, however, the doors to the council room opened and a group of humans in dark suits entered.

"I apologise," the centre man replied, taking off his hat as he took a few steps into the council chamber. "But it is urgent that I speak with the Queen Mother."

"Who do you think you are?" Arsle growled.

"I represent an important friend of yours," the man cryptically said. "We have heard about your recent troubles, and thought we could be of some assistance."

Arsle raised her good eyebrow.

"Oh? I am not sure what you could have heard," the Saiyaness sneered. The human seemed unintimidated, merely smiling.

"Our mutual friend has ways to bypass your censorship. No worries, the media on Earth are more than placated."

The Saiyaness relaxed her shoulders.

"All right, what is it you need to show me?"

One of the men brought out a suitcase, removing from it a tablet and he handed it to the main human.

"A design we've been working on."

Arsle scanned the tablet, scrolling through the feed with an increasingly wide smile.

"Very well," she said. "How soon with they be ready?"

"Now," he replied.

[Finland SSR]

Infernal Inheritance Chapter Twenty-seven Liz vs Asmodeus, part 4

Tournament Grounds, Dis, Kingdom of Pandaemonium, Maikai


Despite the reunion of the witches, everyone could feel Asmodeus’ power growing in intensity.

“I will explain everything that is going on but for now we really need to deal with this so-called “Chaos Emperor”.” Lalia, or Alex, told the others.

Asmodeus would unleash another wave of dark magic at the group which made Alex summon her barrier again to block the attack.

As the wings began to fall apart into a shower of feathers Alex would see a black shape dash through the feathers and before she could react she would feel a tremendous force impact her at her chest and stomach, sending her flying away from the group.

The two witches looked back as they saw Alex hit the wall. “MOM!” the two shouted. The two would hear the prince of lechery laughing.

“You can come up a hundred times Ashwood. But your mortality will always be your weakness. You can never reach the same height of power as us immortals.”

Nymphaea would conjure blades of energy and jump at Asmodeus with the intent of decapitating the demon lord.

But Asmodeus caught the blades and even as steam was emitting from his hands he showed no pain.

“You will have to do more than use basic conjurations monkey.” He would drag Nymphaea forward and headbutt her.

The blow would send her head back as the blades vanished. Asmodeus would raise his hand in front of Nymphaea and he would unleash a beam of dark energy that would send the Saiyaness back to the same wall her mother was, hitting the older witch with the beam as well.

Things were quickly turning from bad to worse: Nymphaea and Alex were defeated, Danuja and Ikki were too injured to fight, and Meroe might as well have been useless. Jalid looked over to Glacia.

“Are you going to do it?”

Glacia sighed.

“Only to let Elizabeth have a fair fight,” the empress said. “I do not want to be involved in their battle.” Glacia turned to the Chaos Emperor.

“I only do this to give our cambion friend some time to recover.” Glacia charged her aura, a wave of purple energy shooting out of her. “But consider yourself fortunate to be the second person to see this.” The Arcosian charged her energy, her aura growing larger in the process before it began to change colour, to a near blinding golden aura not unlike that of the Super Saiyan. Finally, in a burst of immense power, the wave shot out, revealing Glacia with her golden form.

“A bit gauche, perhaps,” she admitted. “But acceptable for now.”

Elizabeth was rather surprised by what she saw, both by the golden form that Glacia was now in, and the increase in power.

“How long did you have that power in reserve?!” Elizabeth asked as she was trying to heal from her injuries.

Nymphaea was trying to get back up but fell back on the ground as she felt drained of all energy.

“Recently,” Glacia told the cambion. “It is a bit of a long story, really.”

Danuja, rising slowly from the ground, gritted her teeth at the sight of Glacia’s golden form, and if it weren’t for her injuries the Super Saiyaness would go utterly ballistic.

“That bitch,” she mumbled.

Ikki, meanwhile, had been watching the Arcosian’s transformation from up close, having stayed behind alongside the Super Saiyans - he didn’t say a word, merely waiting for the transformation to unfold and see what Glacia had meant. Much like Danuja, he was by no means happy with the reveal, however:

“Good. That’s going to help a lot,” Ikki stated. At this point, they had to take anything they could get. The Saiyan made his way to Nymph, picking up the defeated woman in his arms and immediately backing away.

“As for the rest of us... The least we can do is lend our energy to Liz. It won’t be that much, but she will need anything she can get.”

Meroe nodded to Ikki, as the only other warrior still standing.

“Right,” the Lamia said as she slithered over, picking up Lalia and moving back towards where Ikki, Nymph, Danuja, and Liz were.

Meanwhile, back at the centre of the former arena, Asmodeus inspected Glacia with a satisfied grin.

“So the Golden Empress reveals herself,” the Chaos Emperor would tell her. “We’ve been looking forward to this.”

The Chaos Emperor sent forth a burst of dark energy, his aura climbing higher to match the splendour of Glacia’s own aura, as if the two energy forces were competing for dominance without the two combatants coming to blows. Finally, the Chaos Emperor moved first, moving his arm as a shadow seemed to extend over the ground, with black tendrils launching out. Everything around the tendrils dissolved away, as extreme necrosis ate away the gross, and oxidation rusted away any bits of metal.

Glacia smirked as she teleported away from the attack.

“Well, this seems oddly familiar,” the Arcosian mused, as she formed in her hands twin energy disks, throwing them out at the tendrils and chopping them to bits. Glacia followed up by firing a barrage of Death Beams at the Demon Lord.

Asmodeus smirked, using the shadows below him and causing what looked like a wall of granite to rise up out of the shadows, defending him against Glacia’s barrage, at least for now, as the impact of the beams, and Glacia’s continued attack, eventually caused the wall to break and shatter.

Taking advantage of the break, Glacia teleported in front of Asmodeus, sending a punch to his face and launching the demon lord through a ruined piece of the stadium. Following through, the Arcosian again teleported, this time behind Asmodeus, grabbing him from the back of his hand and slamming him into the ground, forming a crater and sending a large shockwave outwards.

“Very good, Empress,” Asmodeus chuckled. “But this fight is already over!”

“We shall see!” Glacia raised her hand to deliver another blow, but before she could strike, the Arcosian suddenly felt herself flying through the air as if suddenly struck. Before she could retaliate, however, Glacia found herself on the ground, and then again through the air, with each moment of realisation accompanied by intense pain coursing through her body.

What is going on here? she wondered, landing back where the others were. The Arcosian’s breathing was laboured, still not used to her golden form, and Glacia reverted back to her base form.

“Elizabeth, something strange is going on here,” she told the Cambion. “I do not think I can be of much further help.”

Elizabeth was trying to understand what she just saw. At first it seemed that Glacia was overpowering her grandfather as she was teleporting around him when suddenly the same thing was happening to her.

Yet she never felt her grandfather messing with space to do any of the actions he did.

“Figures he would have some dirty trick saved for this fight.” Elizabeth would get up, her eyes squinting from a flash of pain she felt from several spots from her body.

“Take everyone out of the stadium Glacia. I have a feeling that it isn’t going to be standing for much longer. Hell, you may have to take everyone away from the city.”

"So that's the last reserve we had..." Ikki commented under his breath as he leapt his way closer to Glacia, then immediately turned to watch the ongoing battle from near.

Elizabeth unleashes a burst of dark energy from her body as her hands were covered in claws made from the same energy as she flew after Asmodeus.

The demon lord gave Elizabeth a smirk as he watched his granddaughter get close to him, his arms folded in front of his chest. When Elizabeth delivered the first swipe aimed at his face Asmodeus simply stepped to the side and dodged the attack effortlessly. He would do the same with the next swipe and the one after it.

Remaining in place he dodged each attack with no effort. “I was hoping you would put more strategy to your attacks but you are fighting like a mindless beast.” Asmodeus would duck back from another slash and he would kick Elizabeth up in the air.

While she was flying up she would open her mouth and fire a beam of energy down at Asmodeus who would catch it with his hand.

The demon lord would open his mouth and black smoke came out and flew towards Elizabeth.

Elizabeth would unleash several magical waves and slice through the cloud. However none of the waves hit Asmodeus as the demon lord disappeared. Elizabeth tried to look around but she would soon be knocked on the back of the head and fall back on to the ground, landing with enough force to form a crater.

Elizabeth was opening her eyes and was trying to get back up when she screamed in pain as a barrage of dark energy bolts began to rain down on her.

When Asmodeus stopped raining down attacks at the crater, he would put his hand down to see if Elizabeth would try to leave the dust cloud his onslaught caused.

From the cloud he can sense a build up of energy and saw the shadowy serpentine head of the black dragon rising up with it’s jaws wide open to devour him.

Asmodeus smirk never left as he created a sphere of energy around himself as the dragon bit down. It’s fangs never pierced through the barrier as it tried to shatter it. Asmodeus floated back and passed through the sphere. He would float above the dragon and put his hands together and lift them above his head, swinging his fists down at the dragon’s head.

The blow of the fists would cause the dragon to finally shatter the barrier. However the blow would disorintent the dragon so much that it was confused on what was happening. Asmodeus would create two large, shadowy, arms that were also tentacles. He would grab the dragon by it’s head with his hands and begin to pull at it’s head.

Those still in the stadium would begin to hear a wet tearing noise as the hands would pull the head off the neck. Asmodeus threw the head aside, the head breaking through the walls of the stadium and rolling across the streets of the city, destroying everything in its path.

Asmodeus would look down to see yet another head shooting out from the cloud that was now being replaced by black smoke.

The demon lord conjured his barrier again as the new head began to wrap it’s neck around the barrier and attempted to squeeze him. As the head tried to crush the demon lord some of the light from the barrier would begin to leak through the opening, the intensity growing with every second.

Just as the light was about to become blinding an explosion would come out that would blow the second head to pieces. Floating in the center, the Prince of Lechery was unharmed. He would stretch his neck and look bored on what his granddaughter has done so far.

“Is this really everything you have to offer Elizabeth?” Asmodeus looks back at the cloud.

The cloud began to rise up and change form.

“No. Something is holding you back. There is some barrier that is preventing you from unleashing your true potential.”

The shape of the smoke was beginning to take the shape of Amastu dragonic form.

“But what could that barrier be? What would push you over the edge?” The demon lord asked himself as he was now staring at the Demon King of the Heavens.

The twin heads were finally regenerating their heads as the center head roared at him.

“So the princess hasn’t fully committed to your deal Myoken? We wonder if you would like us to help her agree to your arrangement in full?”

The only response he got from the dragon was the three heads firing a beam at unison.

Asmodeus would give the dragon a manic smile as he raised his hands over his head.

“CHRONO TRIGGER!”

Reality’s colors distorted as a wave of energy caused the very fabric of spacetime to distort and pause. All motion began to slow down until it ceased entirely, all color in the stadium was drained to a dull monochromatic palette like old century films, and all sense of smell, temperature, and every other sign of life an activity stopped as the world became absolute static.

“Time has stopped.” Asmodeus stated as he floated away from the path of the beam by flying above the dragon.

He formed two orbs of energies on his hands, spinning both hands around in a circular motion before he brought them together to form a larger orb.

“DARKNESS EXECUTION!”

He would send the orb straight to the dragon. The orb would begin to grow in size until finally when it made contact with the dragon it would trap the creature within the orb.

The orb would begin to contract as it was now crushing the dragon. The demon lord raised his hands and was prepared to snap his fingers.

“Time resumes.” he would snap his fingers and it would echo throughout the frozen world as motion, color, and life began to return to the world. However once the world was restored the orb would implode and the attack would blind and shock everyone as it just happened so suddenly.

The dragon’s body began to fall down to the grounds like a shattered statue. From the fragments Elizabeth was seen falling down.

But she was caught by Asmodeus who appeared next to her and grabbed her by the neck. Before the half demon can resist the demon lord would conjure a rift and throw her into the rift.

Asmodeus would conjure on facing the wall close to the group and Elizabeth would be violently flung out as many shadowy tentacles had impaled themselves through her body and slammed her on the wall.

When she was slammed on the wall the tentacles began to disperse. But no sooner had they faded and gravity was about to grab on the half demon and bring her to the ground a beam of dark energy would exit the rift and strike her and the wall, tearing the wall and the stands. The beam tore through the stadium and through many buildings in the city to even create a hole on the city wall.

“Perhaps we overdid it with that spell?” the demon lord pondered.

A shadowy pool would appear in front of Asmodeus and dark tendrils would dive in and pull out a barely conscious Elizabeth, now knocked back to her human form.

“You’re still alive? A surprise to be sure.” the amused duo stated.

Elizabeth can feel whatever energy she still had left going away quickly. She saw it being sucked into the hole on her grandfather's chest.

“But this is where your story ends Ashwood. But don’t worry. We will make sure your sister and mother will join you soon.”

It felt as if time stood still, moments before the demoness' death ticking away. A rush of air blew last the scene - only to grow wilder and wilder, until the final member of the team still standing flew in.

In his Super Saiyan state, Ikki slammed into Asmodeus to blow him aside, all while a blade of energy humming on his right hand slashes across the tendrils holding Elizabeth.

The Saiyan was wincing, immediately clutched onto his abdomen, and the brief burst of golden strength he tapped into passed away, returning him back to his normal state. Without hesitation, Ikki turned over his shoulder and yelled:

"Liz!"

Elizabeth fell on to her knees and just before she fell face first on the ground she would stop herself by placing her hands on the grounds. But with her arms shaking it was clear that she was barely able to stay up.

“Ikki.” she weakly said. Her voice was barely a whisper. The Saiyan upon hearing her, lowered to his knee to try to help her up, and spoke:

“Sorry... this really didn’t go as hoped.”

Elizabeth would see that her grandfather was getting up, rubbing his cheek as he spit out blood from his mouth.

“That Saiyan is persistent. We may have to eliminate him much sooner than we planned.”

The demon lord began to walk towards him. As soon as he heard the coming steps, Ikki stood back up and turned towards Asmodeus, his arms raised to shield the woman behind him.

“Congratulations, monkey. You and the lizard both managed to lay a blow on us. Whilst both of your struggles were valiant they are ultimately futile. The fate of both you mortals and this universe has been decided long before your species’ ancestors crawled out of whatever primordial soup made them.”

He would stop. “But We will grant both you and the child the mercy of not witnessing the fate of this realm and many others.”

“You’re delusional,” was all Ikki gushed out in response, watching the demon’s approach.

Asmodeus can feel Elizabeth charging for a spell and while he knew that any spell she would send now won’t harm him he feels that perhaps this moment may finally force her to unleash everything she has.

“CHRONO TRIGGER!”

The demon lord shouted as the colors of reality inverted as time began to slow down and finally stopped. He would approach the Saiyan until he was standing in front of him.

“Our granddaughter seems to care for you, monkey. We wonder if you are the key to finally getting what we want from her.”

Asmodeus would punch Ikki on the chest and stomach a few times.

“Now for the final touch.”

He would pull back his fist as far as he could go and swung it down as quickly as he could, his fist becoming a blur. In an instant his fist tore through Ikki’s stomach and at the same speed that he used to enter Ikki he would pull his fist out, turning his back as he took a few steps away.

“Time resumes.”

The frozen world began to return back in motion. For anyone watching, Asmodeus tore through Ikki’s body in the blink of an eye, blood sprayed out, and the Saiyan stumbled back. For a second, his feet still weakly stumbled, as if he was still grasping onto some strand of life deep within, but ultimately, Ikki dropped backwards, into Elizabeth’s arms.

For a second, his mouth trembled, as if trying to tell the demoness something, until it ceased. The same shocked expression he watched Asmodeus’ attack was now frozen on his face, his eyes were lifelessly staring into the distance.

[Naval Monte]

Infernal Inheritance Chapter Twenty-seven Liz vs Asmodeus, part 5

Tournament Grounds, Dis, Kingdom of Pandaemonium, Maikai

Elizabeth was frozen in place as she stared off at the vacant eyes of Ikki. Elizabeth tried to shake Ikki up but with each attempt she saw that there was no movement from the Saiyan. As Elizabeth would hear Asmodeus speak from above.

“That’s anticlimactic. You knew him for so long and cared for him so much and now he is dead.” He turned his gaze down at Elizabeth.

“Was that sufficient for you? Or do we need to kill another one of your friends to get the point?” the demon lord asked as he flexed his fingers. Sparks jumping off and striking against the group.

“That...bastard!” Danuja weakly shouted, fighting back tears, her injuries grave but she had enough energy to spout one final insult before collapsing.

Glacia, however, looked at Ikki’s body, at the Saiyan’s injuries. Something about them seemed off to Glacia...

Hearing the screams from the others would trigger something in Elizabeth.

Elizabeth would stop shaking as she slowly got up, her body slouching forward as she held onto her knees.

Asmodeus saw Elizabeth getting up. He thought of attacking her but decided to wait to see what she would do.

He saw the cambion’s body glow red and in a blink of an eye she and Ikki disappeared.

“What?”

He looked around and he saw Elizabeth was with the group carrying Ikki. The cambion would kneel down to Glacia’s level.

“Take him far away from this place Glacia.” Elizabeth asked, her hair covering her eyes.

The Arcosian nodded, noting the change in Liz’s tone. Danuja, Nymph, and Alex were all unconscious, and there was little her, Jalid, and Meroe could do now.

“All right,” she told the witch, using her telekinesis to float Ikki and the other three injured members of Team Ashwood in the air, looking over to Jalid and Meroe.

“Get them to safety, there are some things here that I need to figure out,” the Empress told the Lamia and her cousin.

As Elizabeth dropped off Ikki with the Arcosian she would turn around to face Asmodeus, though she refused to look up at him.

A black and red aura would erupt from her body. The dark power of the black dragon rising from her but now it felt different.

Asmodeus can sense something changed as his calm expression was now tense.

“Nihilus. First you aided the man who took my old life, my friends, and my mother. Now you are using my grandfather to take my Saiyan and kingdom. What do you want from me?”

She finally moved her head up to look up at the chaos emperor. Her eyes changed from their usual color to red.

“You didn’t think I wanted to use this power to win this tournament? I thought of it all the time, but I was afraid of losing control, hurting something or someone. But now I see I was an idiot for holding back. I should have put everything I got since this tournament started.”

Elizabeth closed her eyes as she tried to feel for the dragon’s presence.

"Amastu... sorry for being a coward for so long. I agree to our deal fully."

Elizabeth heard only silence for a few seconds but soon she got a reply from the dragon as the aura began to flare out.

“It was about time. Let's kill that bastard!"

Elizabeth threw her head back and screamed, her scream and the roar of Amastu merging together as the aura rose up in a pillar of chaotic power that would pierce through the stadium ceiling and up into the darken sky, parting the skies.

The ground began to shake violently. The rivers and lakes of lava began to bubble and spout out large splashes of molten rock. Some of the lava would splash onto streets and buildings, burning and melting anyone caught in the splash.


Lightning flashes from the heavens and some struck the ground, destroying boulders and buildings, causing rubble to rain down at the street below and causing more panic in the city, thunder boomed and roar, the winds themselves howled like banshees screaming for the damned as tornadoes began to form in some parts close to the city. Yanking off pieces of the Earth and flinging them wherever fate decided , some of these pieces flying to the city and destroying many buildings .

Pieces of the ground itself rosed up as jagged towers as buildings toppled over. Not even the mighty walls proved to be strong enough to withstand what was happening as some sections were destroyed by laval splashes, repeating lightning strikes, and one by massive earth pillars breaking through it from underneath.

Asmodeus was blown back by the strong gust produced by the pillar. His armored boots sliding across the ground as dust clouds blew across the arena floor. Above him pieces of the stadium roof were beginning to fall down.

The surviving audience members all began to flee as pieces of the stadium were now falling on top of them. The few that were flying down to Asmodeus were destroyed in mid air by sparks of dark energy as he looked at the pillar.

“What have you done Elizabeth?” the demon lord was surprised to see so much power coming off the cambion who seconds ago was barely able to stand.

Outside the stadium the demons that manage to escape would find to their horror the same Earthen towers now enclosed the tower as the ground continue to tremble and break, lava spewing out from the cracks.

The pillar would begin to glow more intensely until finally a red flash would engulf the whole city as a scream and roar can be heard from within the light.

Once the light faded the pillar and the accompanying natural disasters would cease to be.

The few remaining demons trapped in the arena would all begin to slowly get up and after shaking off their confusion would look back down at the arena and witness a change in the fight.

Standing in front of Asmodeus, the chaos emperor, was what appeared to be a new woman. But more eagle eye viewers would realize that the woman was still Elizabeth but like her grandfather she also changed completely into a new form.

Glacia smirked as he noted Elizabeth’s new form. Even without her scouter and the ability to read power signatures, the empress could feel the energy bursting forth from the cambion and in her new form. However, Glacia’s attention was still on Asmodeus.

How could he seemingly teleport instantly? the diminutive alien thought. His attacks against me, and his blow against Ikki, they defy everything regarding physics. His injuries were instantly given, which would be impossible unless…

Something seemed to click in Glacia’s mind as the battle between the demons continued.

Asmodeus looked at his granddaughter. Her hair once black hair was now white like his own. As she opened her eyes they showed neither their human gray nor demonic/dragonic red, but a yellow glow. Even from their distance he can tell that she now matched him in height.

A part of him feared that she might match him in terms of power.

The demon lord shook his head.

“You think copying us would change the outcome of this fight?! It’s useless to resist Ashwood!”

Asmodeus would jump up in the air and raise his hands over his head.

“CHRONO TRIGGER!”

The world distorted as once more all color faded and motion ceased.

Asmodeus would keep his hands over his head as he charged twin orbs.

“DARKNESS JUDGEMENT!”

He would launch the orbs into the air. The two orbs would spin around each other, slowly getting closer.

When the two finally merged they would rapidly expand into a massive, swirling, energy cloud. The cloud would destroy whatever was left of the stadium roof as the cloud began to rain down energy streams at Elizabeth before they stopped above her.

“Time continues!”

The world would return and each stream would land down on top of Elizabeth.

The shower of dark bolts would only end once the cloud dispersed.

The demon lord seemed to be assured that he proved himself to be the superior one as he couldn’t sense Elizabeth’s energy.

But his confidence would shatter instantly as Elizabeth appeared before him.

Before he can utter his shock Elizabeth would throw a punch and a clawed fist made of dark magic would come out of her hand and strike the demon lord on the face. The arm would expand out and break through the stadium wall and fly straight through a building where it would leave Asmodeus.

Elizabeth would stare at the hole she made before she looked down at her own hand, seeing the black claws she had for nails and seeing sparks of dark energy trailing between her fingers.

“Elizabeth!” Glacia shouted. “I figured it out. I figured out his trick.”

Elizabeth looked down at Glacia. “Well then. Spit it out kid. I’m not in the mood for games or delays. But I think I have an idea what is the source for his trick.”

“It is time,” the empress continued. “He can stop time.”

Elizabeth snorted. “Of fucking course. That damn time bitch didn’t keep a close eye on one of her playthings and Nihilus ate one of them when she wasn’t looking.”

“He cannot stop time indefinitely,” the Arcosian returned. “That is beyond any being.”

Elizabeth still kept a cold look. “No. But he can push it past the limits of those so-called “time lords”,” she replied back.

Elizabeth can feel Asmodeus was flying back to the stadium. She powered up to prepare for the fight.

But instead of seeing him she would instead hear Meroe screaming as Elizabeth looked down.

She found her grandfather standing with his back turned from Glacia. On her neck the demon lord plunged a dagger into her throat.

“I believe the mortals have a saying about those who expose other people’s secrets. But I can’t be bothered to remember what was the exact quote.”

The demon lord looked up before he vanished from her sight.

Elizabeth looked around but she realized that she was moved and was floating in front of the massive screen, where Asmodeus was sitting on.

“So you figured out our secret. No doubt you also know how we acquired this power. It wasn’t easy doing so as it required centuries of planning and tracking for us to finally have the chance to take one of Bika’s servants without her tracking us down.”

Asmodeus would disappear and once Elizabeth would find herself moved to a new location; floating above the stadium with Asmodeus floating above her.

“But you see Ashwood. You can figure out how we gained this power, how long we can keep it going, or anything else about it. In the end nothing you can learn would change that the outcome of this fight was determined before this fight even started.”

Spikes of dark energy began to appear behind Asmodeus.

Elizabeth would fly off to avoid the attack but the demon lord gave her a sadistic grin as he shouted.

“CHRONO TRIGGER!”

Time froze once more as Elizabeth began to curse mentally.

“They say the first cut always cuts the deepest.” He would send all of the spikes flying towards Elizabeth and all of them began to freeze just inches from her.

“And those are a lot of firsts.”

Asmodeus would form more spikes and send them out. He did this twice before he sent out a fully charged beam.

“And now, time resumes.”

Time began to return to normal as the spikes began to make their way to Elizabeth.

The cambion would summon multiple shadowy arms from her back and begin to punch away the spikes.

However the suddenness of the attack meant that some of the spikes got through, one stabbing her on the right thigh, another on her left side and right breast.

When the beam struck her arms it tore through them and struck her stomach and chest, sending her flying as the remaining spikes would stab her body, one stabbing her on the heart and the other on her forehead.

Elizabeth would fall down on the ground and crash land on a back alley.

It didn’t take long for Asmodeus to appear in the same alley.

“For any normal person being stabbed so many times and going through a fall like that would kill them. But you are beyond the boundaries of normality aren’t you Ashwood.”

Asmodeus knelt down and slapped his hand on the ground. Sparks flew off as the ground beneath his hand sank down into a hole as a battle axe was forming on the palm of his hand as he slowly got up.

“But regardless this fight is over and just like that Saiyan before this ended anti-climatic.”

The demon lord would make the axe float up in the air and aim the blade on Elizabeth’s neck.

“Now then. CHRONO TRIGGER!”

Color in reality began to distort but as motion still existed in those few seconds Elizabeth’s aura erupted as she dashed towards Asmodeus. The demon lord was caught off guard by the sudden action that he didn’t defend himself when Elizabeth brought down a large shadowy fist onto his head.

Reality only froze for a few seconds before it resumed as the demon lord was sent flying to the stairs leading into the alley.

“It isn’t over yet old man. Ikki and Glacia both showed me some weaknesses to your power and I was waiting for the right time to exploit it.”

Asmodeus would glare at the cambion as he tried to get up but his legs would wobble before giving up.

“Our legs. What have you down to our legs!” he shouted.

Elizabeth gave Asmodeus a grin.

“Looks like that blow to your head affects your ability to walk. It should make it easy for me to beat the shit out of you.”

From her shadow the head of the dragon began to emerge. “But honestly you aren’t worth getting my hands dirty anymore.”

The demon lord would look at her with defince before laughing at her. The cambion growled at him as she would motion the head to devour her grandfather.

Asmodeus would turn his head at the dragon.

“CHRONO TRIGGER!”

Elizabeth’s eyes widened as the world began to slow down before it stopped.

Ah crap.

Elizabeth thought in that moment before she blacked out. Her mind returning back to her to see the dragon having taken chunks from the stair but not the demon lord.

Elizabeth looked around for her grandfather only to sense him in the air. She looked up and saw him flying away.

Asmodeus was fuming on how he was forced to fly away because a child was able to lay a blow on him that crippled him. The only relief was that he won’t be crippled for long.

His thoughts would be interrupted as he felt a powerful blow from his back sending him crashing down to the street below, forming a small crater on the road.

The demon lord would squint his eyes from the pain but he would begin to crawl to a manhole cover. Planning on hiding out in the sewers until he can regain his legs.

As his fingers were close to the cover a shadowy fist would punch the cover into the hole, forcing his hand to retreat back.

“Well, Well, Asmodeus.”

The demon looked up to see Elizabeth. Her left hand on her hip as she gave him a wide grin with her golden eyes glowing brightly. The cambion looked psychotic to the demon lord.

“Looks like I violated your manhole…”

The cambion was silent for a few seconds. “Cover.” she quickly added as she tried to erase the awkwardness her previous words made.

The demon lord would push himself up and float away from Elizabeth.

“Time freezes! CHRONO TRIG…”

Before he can finish another shadowy fist would punch him in the face.

“SHUT THE HELL UP OLD MAN!”

Elizabeth would summon six more arms and all of them would begin to deliver a flurry of punches at Asmodeus. His body jerking in pain as each fist pummeled him.

The onslaught would have a momentary end as all the fists pulled back and began to merge into a singular, more gargantuan, arm. The demonic limb would swing itself forward and deliver a punch with enough force to send the demon lord flying away from Elizabeth.

As the demon lord flew away he left behind a trail of blood. As he flew he would send a large influx of energies coming towards him. Realizing where he was flying to the demon lord laughed as he realized that Ashwood had inadvertently aided him.

Elizabeth flew after him as she heard him laughing.

“Did I hit him on the head too hard?” she asked herself as she was now starting to think that her grandfather was losing whatever shreds of sanity he had left.

The demon lord would create a rift and allow himself to fly through it.

The witch stopped in mid flight once she saw her grandfather escaping. She tried to sense him out but she didn’t need to search for long.

She felt his power growing while she sensed many energy signatures disappearing.

“That’s coming from the stadium!”

She created her own rift and went through it.

---

As Elizabeth exited the portal she found herself back in the stadium grounds. Many of the demons outside were now on the ground motionless.

“Shit, shit, shit.” the cambion cursed as she clenched her fist tightly, sparks flying off.

“You were a few seconds too late, Elizabeth.”

Elizabeth looked up and saw Asmodeus carrying Glacia by the neck.

“You’re friends and these spectators provided the right amount of nutrients to aid in our recovery and to give us an increase to our power.” He would throw Glacia aside like she was a broken doll.

She saw that surrounding the demon lord was the rest of the ground down on the ground.

“Oh don’t think you can save them Ashwood. We blow away any chance of them recovering from this. We sucked them all bone dry. We reached around and..” Before the demon lord can finish Elizabeth would scream and become a red and black blur as she tackled him back into the stadium.

Going through many walls and rooms until they return back to the arena.

Asmodeus would slam both his fists on Elizabeth to knock her off him and into the ground but the cambion would land on both her hands and feet.

The demon lord was breathing in deeply. “We’re done playing around. We’re ending this bout once and for all!” The demon lord began to scream as he was powering up.

Elizabeth would get up and give her grandfather a smirk.

“For once you said the first intelligible thing in this whole fight you dementia-ridden fossil.”

Elizabeth would join in as she let out a scream and began to charge her power.

As both fighters were unleashing every ounce of power they had the city and the surrounding area began to shake once more as a dark storm hung over the city. Dormant volcanoes awakened and erupted in response to the surge of power that was coming from the imperial city.

Two pillars arose from the city. One of purple and one of red.

From within the pillars of power to small dots can be seen at the heart of the pillars. Two dots that represent the possible future of Maikai.

And of the world as a whole

From within the pillars the two fighters floated over the crumbling stadium as they stared at each other, both giving each other a grin.

"As much as you have annoyed us Ashwood. I hate to admit it but you provided us a challenging fight, one we felt that we would never experience again. I will remember this fight even after the birth of the new world." He told the chaos empress.

The grin on Elizabeth grew. "You have no idea how long we have waited a chance to defeat you!" Elizabeth stated. "Your plans end here Harbinger!"

Elizabeth and Asmodeus both shouted as they charged towards each other.

Asmodeus would shout the name of his time stop power and as time was stopping he would throw a punch at Elizabeth just as she did the same.

The shock wave of their collided attacks would echo throughout the city.

As time began to resume Asmodeus would let out blood as Elizabeth's elbow pushed itself deep into his waist.

But not deterred he would bring his fist down to her head but the witch would turn her body and catch his fist. She would swing her tail around and try to stab him with her tail but Asmodeus would raise his free hand and allow the tail to stab through the palm of his hand.

Asmodeus would raise his knee up and hit Elizabeth by the side but the witch only responded by pushing her tail forward. Elizabeth would open her mouth to unleash a beam of energy that would push her grandfather away from her.

Once there was some distance between the two she would put her hands forward.

"VELVET INFERNO!"

She would unleash the dark purple and black beam at Asmodeus. The demon lord would vanish before the beam can hit him.

"DARKNESS EXECUTION!" He shouted as he sent out an orb at Elizabeth.

Elizabeth would send out Velvet Inferno once more and the beam would encase the orb within its own prison. The orb would implode within the dark magic barrier. But just as it was shattered Asmodeus would fly through it and summon a lance of dark energy on his hand and throw it at Elizabeth. The attack would through the side of Elizabeth's head and disorient her long enough for the demon lord to deliver both his feet on her face. As she was flying away he would launch a beam in her direction.

Elizabeth would sense the attack and create a rift in front of her and escape through it as the beam almost entered the rift before it vanished.

The demon lord looked at where the beam was fired and turned around just in time to see the rift open above him from behind him, with Elizabeth coming down with Raguel's sword.

The demon lord raised his arms as a shield while conjuring a barrier but Elizabeth would unleash a swipe in the air and both the barrier and arms were cut through, causing a large gash to open on Asmodeus' chest.

With the demon lord left defenseless Elizabeth would plunge her blade down and she would stab through his neck. Asmodeus would gurgle as his windpipe blocked by the blade. As the demon lord looked at her he would swing a punch at her but she would flap her wings and fly away from the path from the fist, still holding on to the blade's hilt as she yank it off his neck.

Asmodeus would let out a gasp of air but gurgle once more as his throat was flooded with blood. But the demon lord didn't rest as he would conjure a barrier around his neck as the angelic blade almost cut his neck. Asmodeus would form several dark spikes and make them rain down at Elizabeth's location.

The cambion princess would fly away from her grandfather to avoid the spikes.

Elizabeth would summon many shadowy hands and send them all at Asmodeus. The demon lord would do the same and both fists would collide at the same time before the shadowy limbs would become blurs as each delivered a flurry of punches to break through the defenses of the other.

Elizabeth screamed as she charged more energy to her fists to make them stronger. The engagement now having Elizabeth's punches starting to break through his grandfather's as each of his hands began to shatter. However the demon lord was able to recover from the earlier stabbing and once he can use his throat he began to scream, channeling more power to his fists and making sure that none of them shatter by Elizabeth's blows, if anything it was Elizabeth who was now losing hands.

Elizabeth knew that she needed to think of a new plan. She would begin to channel her power into the angelic sword. But Asmodeus would sense what she was doing and he would shout.

“Time freezes! Chrono Trigger!" Time would once more freeze as he dodge away from the slash wave that he expected to come. Being right on the type of the attack, but not where it will come from.

As he allowed time to resume he would be caught by surprise when the slash would appear on his body.

"WHAT!?" He screamed out in pain as he clutched his chest. Elizabeth would use this chance to vanish herself by a rift and reappear to perform a spin kick that would knock Asmodeus to the ground.

The demon lord bounced off the ground and before he could land back down Elizabeth would crash land on top of him.

Elizabeth would charge her fist with dark energy and she would shove her fist straight into her grandfather's chest hole, but instead punched the ground.

She would see her grandfather standing away, surrounded by black and purple flames. She knew what spell he was going to send.

Elizabeth would surround herself with black and red flames as she prepared for her own spell.

"ABYSSAL DRAGON OF THE DARKNESS FLAME!”

"CHAOS DRAGON OF THE DARKNESS FLAME!"

From the two demons two mighty dragons rose. From Elizabeth on baring the semblance of Amatsu flew towards a dragon that resembled a demonic Shenron that had a thick mane around his neck and a third horn on his nose, a long reptilian tongue stuck out from it’s jaws . The two dragons would begin to circle around each other, biting and scratching each other as they tried to establish dominance over the other.

The two dragons flew high into the air as the many heads of Elizabeth’s dragon wrapped themselves around Asmodeus, all while the demon lord’s own dragon was strangling the lead head of Elizabeth’s own dragon.

The two demonic royals were pouring every ounce of power they had into their dragons

The abyssal dragon would push the chaotic variant off it’s body and make a dive down to Elizabeth. As the abyssal dragon roared it would be pulled back by the chaos dragon as the heads bite down on its shoulders and neck from behind, making it turn up and fly past Elizabeth.

The two dragons would break through the walls of the stadium behind Elizabeth as the chaos dragon slammed it’s rival to the ground, spreading black flames on the park and neighborhoods as it dragged it’s rival across the ground of the city.

As the two dragons rampaged throughout the city the two demonic royals would break their stance and charge forward.

Both would deliver power punches to their faces. Both would create energy balls in front of their fists and blast their attacks on each other’s faces.

From the dust cloud the two royals flew away as Asmodeus and Elizabeth both sent out a barrage of blasts that would intercept each other.

Asmodeus would growl. “CHRONO TRIGGER!” time stopped as he charged through the dust cloud and delivered a punch at Elizabeth.

But as time began to resume he would be caught off guard by her blocking the attack with her arms. Elizabeth would use the distraction to perform a roundhouse kick that would connect to his head and she would follow the attack with another spin kick but Asmodeus would catch it and flung her to the side.

“CHRONO TRIGGER!” He would make time stop again as he launched more dark energy bolts at Elizabeth.

“Time resumes.” he would see his bolts flying towards her but to his shock his grand daughter responded with summoning the archangel’s sword and slicing through the energy projectiles.

“How!?” he shouted before he dodge out of the way of several dimensional cuts sent after him. Elizabeth would unleash her aura and vanish once more.

Appearing in front of Asmodeus to hit him on the stomach with her knees.

“You’re rusty as hell old man. Once I realize that the best way to counter your time skip was to predict your movement and this form gives me all the speed I need to do just that.”

The demon lord growled at the insult directed at him. He would scream and he would blast Elizabeth away with his aura. He would raise both his hands up

“Dragon, return to me!”

From across the city Elizabeth would hear the abyssal dragon roaring.

“Like I said old man, predictable.” Elizabeth would raise her left hand up.

“Dragon, return to me!”

Her own aura would flare out.

The two would hear their respective dragons roaring as the two dragons flew back to the stadium. The two dragons would circle around the stadium before the two would crash down at their respective owners, engulfing them in flames.

The flames would spread throughout the arena and break through the barrier and into the stalls, consuming everything in their way.

But just as the flames were about to enter the hallway they would begin to retract back to the source of their genesis.

The flames would soon be reduced into fiery auras of the two makers.

The previous emperor and the could-be empress both glared at each other as each one prepared for the other to deliver the final blow.

The two screamed and the two became streaks of black with either purple or red cores as they crashed into each other, Elizabeth blocking a kick from Asmodeus.

The two flew up and each time they were visible it was only for a few seconds as each one blocked the other attacks.

The two were now still as they delivered a flurry of kicks and punches at each other.

“IT’S USELESS TO DEFEAT US ASHWOOD. USELESS! USELESS! USELESS! USELESS! USELESS! USELESS! USELESS! USELESS! USELESS! USELESS! USELESS! USELESS! USELESS! USELESS!”

Asmodeus shouted over and over as he delivered each blow to Elizabeth as she let out her own battle cry.

Elizabeth would unleash another burst of power and charge towards Asmodeus, crashing into him and sending him through the wall. She would conjure a rift for the two to enter through and appear just a few inches off the ground where the two crashed on.

Before her grandfather can get up Elizabeth would shove her fist right into Asmodeus' chest hole.

“You want to suck everyone dry right? Well how about you try eating me you glountness bastard. I got plenty of energy to spare!”

Elizabeth would shover her second fist right into the same hole.

“It’s time to end this! CHAOS DRAGON…”

Before she can finish she would find Asmodeus had disappeared. She looked up and saw the demon lord clenching his chest as Elizabeth summoned her sword, covering it in the same flames.

Elizabeth flew up high and came down to strike down her grandfather with the sword of chaos flames.

“Stop!” cried a voice, a voice very familiar to Elizabeth, coming from a familiar looking demon

“You don’t have to fight anymore, Elizabeth. It’s over. You won.”

Hearing the voice calling out made the red haze that clouded her vision begin to clear up. As the blade was inches from touching Asmodeus forehead it would stop, the flames having dispersed long before she stopped the attack.

Asmodeus looked at the cambion with some surprise that she was able to stop on time.

“What?” the demon lord uttered as he turned to look at the other demon.

When Elizabeth turned to look at him she would say only one word.

“Dad…”

The demon smiled softly on his daughter, the first time he had seen her in years.

“Yes, it’s really me, my little hellspawn,” he said with great affection, before he turned to his own father.

“Father, you remember what this is about, right? Why you organised this tournament? Why you made a deal with Nihilus?”

Asmodeus would look away from the demon. “Why did I do this?” he asked himself.

The demon lord would grunt in pain as he placed his hand on his forehead.


What are you doing? She left herself wide open. Ignore that demon and finish this fight!

Asmodeus heard Nihilus' voice echo in his head.

"My plan..." He repeated himself as he was staring off far away from the two demons.

"Asmodeus! What are you doing?!"

The demon lord growled.

"Ending this fight how I wanted." The demon lord threw his head up and screamed to the heavens as his aura flared up once more. Elizabeth defended herself for what she expected was an attack.

But to her surprise she saw smoke leaving off her grandfather's body.

"What the hell?"

Was all she could see as more of the smoke was leaving her grandfather’s body. Eventually his form was covered by the smoke until finally it two dispersed and she saw his younger form.

However this didn’t stay as even that form was covered by smoke and vanished to make the demon revert back to his wizened form once more.

Asmodeus fell onto his hands and knees. Sweating profusely and breathing heavily.

Elizabeth looked at the eldery demon and the smoke that was expelled out of his body.

“Okay, what the fuck is goin on?”

[Britanania]

Outside New Tohra City, Mars, Early July 506 AU

"Commander, a Saiyan army is approaching a few clicks from the base," a Tohran soldier announced. The commanding officer, an older Tohran male by the name of Marduk, was sipping some tea when his younger subordinate gave the announcement. Marduk sighed.

"This is the third time this week the overgrown monkeys have lay siege to this fortress. It's built into the side of a mountain, reinforced with the strongest durasteel in the PTO," he said. "The Saiyans can lob everything they have at us for all I care, so long as we are fully staffed, not even a thousand of their best warriors could take us. How many are they fielding?"

"Our scouters are reporting a little over a hundred Saiyans, they look to be Honour Guard from their power signatures."

Marduk scoffed.

"We have nothing to worry about," he said with a wave of his hand. "Send some of our boys down and give them a bloody nose."

---

Several minutes later, a frantic call came over the comms.

"We need backup, they have--"

Static interrupted the transmission as Marduk pressed a button on his console.

"Alpha Squad, what's the situation?"

Silence. Again Marduk asked, but nothing but static. Exasperated, the commander turned to a subordinate.

"What is going on down there?" he demanded harshly.

"I--I don't know, sir. The Saiyans aren't engaged at all it's like we're fighting..."

Dread rushed over the faces of the Tohrans, as they dared not say what could wipe out a team of their best warriors with little effort. One of the staff members fiddled with a few buttons on the console, bringing up the feed from just outside the mountain base. It depicted the corpses of the Tohrans, and standing over them, were a dozen or so robotic units.

A collective gasp filled the control room, confirming their worst fears about what wiped out Alpha Squad. Marduk clenched a fist.

"Seal off the base!" he shouted. "We'll prepare a counterattack. They have a few new toys, but nothing a coordinated attack cannot handle."

Outside of the base, as the large and reinforced blast doors closed shut, the X Series Androids ceased their attack, as indicated by the monitor. From the Tohran HQ, however, a new reading appeared on the screen: a large burst of energy several kilometres into the atmosphere.

"What is going on out there?" Marduk demanded, as some Tohrans frantically pulled up reports to explain the burst of energy. One of the aides ran a report.

"A small explosion, commander; our readings indicated the energy attack came from the Saiyans, but it was apparently aimed at the sky, and not at the base.

"Why would the Saiyans--"

Marduk cut himself off as he realised what was going on. Panic swept through him.

"Get everyone on high alert immediately!"

As if to answer, the base began to shake, as if hit by something. Then, another strike, rocking everything inside the room. From the screens, the truth was all too apparent: the hundred strong Saiyan Honour Guard sent to fight had become a hundred Great Ape army, marching towards the base, as the forward members fired of energy attacks from their mouths.

"We have to retreat!" a soldier shouted.

"Where? We are inside a mountain!" another snapped. All throughout the room, as they watched the Oozaru force march forward, they knew they trapped, and it was only a moment of time until they were all wiped out.

Marduk closed his eyes and let out a sigh.

"Send a message to Beryl," he instructed. "Tell her we held out as long as we could, and that I hope our deaths will give Tohra hope."

The Tohran commander then turned back to the console, and contemplated his last thoughts before the Saiyans arrived.

[Naval Monte]

Infernal Inheritance Chapter Twenty-eight

Dis, Kingdom of Pandaemonium, Maikai


The smoke hung in the air as Elizabeth looked between her grandfather and father. When her attention turned away from it the smoke began to move away from the group.

“Seriously! Someone better tell me what is going on now!” the furious dragonic cambion shouted angrily.

Nergal didn’t reply, he merely glanced her way and raised a single eyebrow,as he often did when she was a child.

Elizabeth backed away looking down sheepishly.

“Sorry for yelling.” she replied back meekly.

King Nergal sighed.

“It was about a year ago, Earth time, that is,” the Demon King replied. “Or maybe longer?” he thought for a moment, resting his chin on his right fist. “Oh, I could never understand the conversion. The point is, after the Usurper disappeared, your grandfather got me out of that stinking oubliette, and he told me of a plan to save Maikai, or at least, our slice of it.”

Asmodeus would try to get up on his own before he summoned his cane back.

“That pretender was lucky he disappeared before I was able to arrive. I would have made an example of him to deter future usurpers.” The wizened demon would try to straighten his back, wincing as an audible crack can be heard, forcing him to hunch over as he placed his hand on his back.

“I should have kept some of that creature’s powers so I can stay young.” he complained as he rubbed his back.


“As I was saying,” Nergal said, rolling his eyes, “you came to me with a plan, specifically, one for Elizabeth to become the new Queen of Pandaemonium.”

Elizabeth looked at the two.

“I’m sorry but what?” she said as she blinked. “You two wanted me to become the new ruler? How come none of you thought of regaining the crown yourselves? Why did you two choose me?”

“It is your birthright,” Nergal explained. “For one, and moreover, after my defeat at the hands of Battaru, I could not properly rule. But,” the Demon King paused. “There’s something your mother told me.”

Elizabeth would hear a staff tapping against the ground. “I’m so glad I came stocked with potions in case I was drained.” Elizabeth turned around and saw “Lalia”... no, her mother, walking up to the three.

The sheep demon gave the trio an awkward smile.

“Hi again. Our reunion didn’t go as I would have liked. But…” Alex would suddenly find herself enveloped in a hug.

Alex would hear her daughter sniffling which made her pat Elizabeth on the back of the head.

“You missed me that badly huh?” she asked as she returned the hug.

Alex was content to keep the hug a while longer but the two heard the two demonic males making fake coughs. Tell her to get on with it.

Alex frowned but relented.

“Please put me down Lizzy. I need to share something important. Something I learned after we defeated Fuar.”

Elizabeth followed what her mother said and put her down.

“It relates to Nihilus doesn’t it.” her glance went to the smoke that was still hovering in the air.

The sheep demon nodded.

“The Sephirah, the bird mages, some of their members came to me and told me of a prophecy. Their prophecy foretold that Edo Edi Essum, better known to you as the Crawling Chaos or the Great Darkness, will arise again.”

Elizabeth's eyes took on a glassly look. “Edo Edi Essum? So that is the name of the darkness.”

“Yes.” Alex confirmed. “When the Sephirah locked Edo away they divided it into seven pieces. They hoped that the seven pieces would never reunite but sadly it seems that somehow all seven pieces will.”

She gazed at Nihilus. “Nihilus is the Herald of Edo and is a piece of him.” she would turn her sight back to Elizabeth. “Amatsu Mikaboshi is also another fragment of Edo.”

Elizabeth let out a sigh. “I wish I can say that surprises me. But I knew he was a piece of it ever since I felt his power. But at least now I know what Amatsu came from because he has been silent on the matter.”

Alex tilted her head to the side. “Yes. I wasn’t expecting a piece to hate another. I thought they all had the same desire of reuniting.”

She shrugged. “That at least shows us that the prophecy can possibly be stopped. But the real reason I’m talking about it now is because both you and your sister have a role to play.”

That one got Elizabeth’s attention. “Yeah, Nihilus was babbling on about a prophecy and daughters of darkness and light and other nonsense.”

Alex chuckled a little but the look of amusement quickly faded as she was now serious.

“The prophecy gave a lot of hints of both you and your sister being the daughters of darkness and light. The one chosen as the daughter of light would unlock the power to divide Edo like the Sephirah, while the daughter of darkness would seal Edo once more.”

Elizabeth was silent after hearing the news.

“We needed to draw one of the pieces out,” Nergal further elaborated. “Your grandfather did the trick with that one,” he said, turning to Asmodeus. The elder demon nodded.

“It was by chance that I found that creature when it entered our realm. I found it harvesting the souls of our kind while all of Pandaemonium was tearing itself apart. I was nearly devoured when I was able to convince it to be in my team for the tournament. I promised him a chance to sever the prophecy in exchange for him helping me rebuild my kingdom.”

Elizabeth now can guess what is going on. “But it was a lie.You planned on offering him to me so I would be a step closer in preventing Edo’s rise.” her gaze turned heated as she glared down at her grandfather.

“Was killing Ikki worth it? Did he had to die for the “greater good?”” she seethed out, her aura surrounding her.

Alex gave Elizabeth a smile. “He isn’t dead.”

That got Elizabeth’s attention.

“Your mother is correct,” Asmodeus admitted. “If I had killed Kita Jr. I would have felt his soul enter my being. But I made sure that I didn’t target any vitals. A task made easier because Saiyans like him are extremely durable. Your Saiyan lover is still alive.”

Hearing the words that Ikki was still alive made Elizabeth feel a wave of relief. So immense was this wave that she almost ignored what her grandfather called him.

Nergal coughed into his fist.

“It was necessary for you to believe your friends were killed, so we could complete the synchronism between you and Amatsu.” Nergal gave his daughter a sympathetic look, before giving a harsh one at his father.

“It seems your grandfather was a little too eager.”

Asmodeus gave an apologetic sigh.

“Yes, I seem to have lost myself in the heat of the moment, but your friends will make a complete recovery.”

“You can meet up with them at the coronation,” Nergal then stated, turning his attention to Liz. “You won the Tournament and passed our test, you are worthy to be Pandaemonium’s ruler.”

Asmodeus would tap his cane on the ground. “Now we just need to seal Nihilus.” the demons looked at the smoke only to realize that it was now gone.

“Ah crap baskets.” Asmodeus sighed as rubbed his temple. “I knew we should have prepared for more binding agents to keep him contained.”

[Finland SSR]

Infernal Inheritance Chapter Twenty-nine

Throne Room, Palace, Dis, Kingdom of Pandaemonium, Maikai


As the search for Nihilus continued, Dis’ throne room was packed with a cavalcade of demons from across the kingdom, including the various nobles—such as her uncle Goetia and cousin Amon, her aunt Arachnera, and cousin Meroe—and the members of Team Asmodeus. Of course, Elizabeth’s own teammates were there, Glacia and Jalid, her mother and father, and her grandparents.

Liz herself sat upon the throne, the throne she often saw her father seated upon. Asmodeus placed the crown on her head and handed the Demonic Fruit to her.

“I present to you,” the elderly demon said to the crowd, “Queen Elizabeth!”

The entire room burst into applause until the doors opened and a shimmering bright light flashed in everyone’s eyes. Gasps can be heard all around but they immediately silenced within seconds. Everything and everyone froze, becoming inanimate, all save for Elizabeth Ashwood, the new Queen of Maikai. When the light fades another individual takes up space. It’s Sud himself, standing in his human form with shimmering Celestial armour.

His gaze swept the room. “Quite the party.” His eyes land on Nymph and they soften. A brief smile appears on that far too handsome face. A face that seems sulphated by millions of years of existence and the million thoughts and ideas of what the perfect deity looked like. Then they land on Elizabeth and the softness dissipates.

Sud approached, clapping all the while, an uncharacteristically somber express on his face.

“Congratulations, sister.” There’s something suffocating about his presence even while he gives off no suggestion of aggression or contempt, there’s a taste of trepidation of danger pricking at Elizabeth’s stomach. Sud stops mere feet away from her. Golden hair shimmering under the halo floating above the crown of his head. The Celestial headpiece. The sigil designating him King of all of existence.

“There will be no better Queen for Maikai.” He smiles but not one that reaches his eyes. Eyes that are normally vibrant and ethereal, entrancing to any lesser being that looks into them, hold a sharp edge to them more sharp than a blade forged from the deepest pits of Maikai. He did not come here to congratulate her.

“Though I must say you and I need to have a little chat about what your title now means for you.” He cupped his own chin and considered her with that same uncharacteristically cold gaze, smiling all the while. “And your kind as a whole.”

Elizabeth was stun silent from the abrupt visitation of the Grand Supreme Kai. After everything she had been through she didn’t suspect to see Sud of all beings to appear.

“I had a bit of a chat with the higher ups in this dimension, before I got here. We all seem to be in agreement that mortals having so much investment in this realm and vice versa is well, a no no.”

The look he gave her unnerved the cambion. In the back of her mind she was pondering what could be the cause of his displeasure?

Mercifully, the Kai explained his reason for seeing her personally. “I had a bit of a chat with the higher ups in this dimension, before I got here. We all seem to be in agreement that mortals having so much investment in this realm and vice versa is well, a no no.” Yet the reason was still something she didn’t want to hear.

“I don’t understand.” she asked him. “Why would the gods of this realm agree to limit access to the mortal realm? If having more chances to enter the mortal realm be something they would enjoy more?”

“Let’s just say I can be very persuasive.” There’s a dangerous spark in his eyes as he says this, threatening to ignite like a wildfire at the drop of a zeni. “I don’t take too kindly to subordinates stepping out of line.”

He cocks his head to the side. “I’m not heartless. Especially not to family. So I'm wigging to allow you to exploit a loophole.” He waggled his brow. “Be like that primordial friend of yours, create a nexus point, the only connection between the demon realm and the mortal realm.”

Elizabeth thought about it. Creating another Nexus like the one from Earth. “Do you want me to set it on Earth or I have the choice to set it up anywhere in the mortal plane?” she asked. “What would happen to the portal in Mayko? I know what exists in there and I believe Tohra also had one. Though I’m not sure if that portal still works after the planet’s destruction.”

“Quite frankly I don’t care where you place it. So long as you give me your word that you will guard it in the same manner that the Earthlings guard the Yggdrasil portal. ” He straightened and looked up to the seeing almost contemplative. “ You don’t have to worry about the other portals. I will deal with them, just worry about setting up the Nexus point.”

Elizabeth thought about where to set up the portal in both Maikai and on the mortal plane. “For the one in here. I want it close to the palace so I can keep an eye on it. Perhaps that one square where a guard tower was meant to be made at but was never completed.”

She told him as her eyes still looked down at the floor as she thought were on the mortal world would the demon portal will be.

“I made my choice. I pick the Heights to be the location of the portal in the mortal plane. Particularly in Airceltria.”

Sud sighs and scratches the back of his head. “Always the Earth.” Not that he was surprised by her choice.

Elizabeth gave him a smirk as she rested her head on her right fist. “I could pick Mars if you want. I’m sure nothing bad will happen if Demons and Saiyans meet each other on that rock.”

“Would’ve been a more interesting choice…truly” When he smiles this time it reaches his eyes, chasing away the previous harshness.

“One more thing” He flicked his wrist and pulled a small purple box out of thin air. “A gift.”

He tossed the box towards the Demon Queen. Inside a Sapphire ring enchanted with divine protection and danger alerting charms. “Will help you with keeping a leash on demonic traffic too and from this realm and the mortal realm... speaking of mortals.”

Elizabeth looked at the ring. Admiring it for a few seconds before she closed the box and hid it away in a rift. “Thanks for the gift sugar daddy.”

The god turned towards Nymph, seemingly forgetting Elizabeth all together as he made a long stride over to the Saiyaness. His Halo dissipated and his outfit transformed, modifying into standard Solarian formal garment. He moved around her frozen form until he was standing behind her, giving Elizabeth one last firm look. A look that meant that this conversation was to be kept between the two of them, leaned down to press a kiss against his wife’s temple.

Immediately time moved again. Sud took a step back as Nymph whirled around on him. “Hey turtledove.”

Nymphaea’s eyes widened as they seemed to sparkle with joy.

“SUD!”

The “Solarian” would be tackled to the ground as Nymphaea pounced on him for a hug, her lips on his as she kissed him.

Elizabeth looked at the couple on the floor as Nymphaea seemed to have forgotten that she was surrounded by spectators.

“Get a room you two.” Elizabeth said to the two of them. Yet she did nothing to stop them.

Glacia, meanwhile, observed the scene with detached interest, noting the “Solarian” who seemingly appeared out of nowhere. She recognised the name, of course, and gave a slight smile.

“Solarian indeed…”

Alex appeared next to the couple with the sheep demon. A grin was on her face as she covered her lips with her fingers.

“Ara Ara. Aren’t you two having so much fun down there. I’m feeling extremely jealous right now.”

The sheep turn over to look at Nergal.

“Perhaps I should follow your lead and make out in the chamber as well.”

The demon lord blushed as he saw the look the sheep demon was giving him.

Seeing what was happening Elizabeth slapped her face.

“Oh brother.” she mumbled.

Breaking away from the kiss and tapping a finger lightly against Nymph’s forehead Sud says “Woah Nymph, us Solarians need oxygen too you know” He laughs pulling her into a tight hug before standing, bringing his wife up with him.

Over her head he squinted at Alex, sensing the death of her but not making any comment about her presence. When his gaze returned to Elizabeth he pretended to be bashful, reaching behind his head as an apology escaped his lips. “Sorry your majesty, couldn’t miss out on the chance of reconnecting with my wife.”

“Quite a journey, from Andromeda,” Glacia said with a smile. “Representing the High King?”

Sud cocked his head. On the outside maintaining his light composure even as his thoughts began to race. An arcosian in the demon realm? What had his universe come to? “Yes, his royal highness regrets not being able to come on his own accord, but running an entire galaxy is time consuming.” He smirks. “But you must know all about that don’t you, Lady Glacia?”

“Yes, difficult only short of running a whole universe, perhaps,” the empress replied.

“Aren’t you a funny one.” He squeezed Nymph and looked down at her. “You have such, amusing friends.” When he looks up his smile is a bit tighter than before. The light in his blue eyes was removed in favour of a warning. “Don’t push it”.

Glacia shrugged.

“Give my love to Lady Mizuna, when you see her,” the Arcosian returned.

“Solarian huh?” Danuja chimed in, pressing her fist into her palm. “Hey pretty boy. Fight me.”

Elizabeth slapped both her hands on her face when she saw what Danuja was trying to do.

“Danu. I don’t think you should fight him now.” Nymphaea warned. “I don’t think we should ruin sis’s big day anymore.”

“What, I’m just trying to liven things up.” She grins wickedly. “ What better way to do that than a good ole fashion brawl!”

She then pointed her finger at Sud. “Unless your little, Solarian tush is too pampered to fight me like a real man.”

Sud’s expression was unreadable, though his brow did raise at Danuja’s jeering. He glances down at Nymph. As if waiting for her response to this challenge.

“HEY! I’m talking to you, not your wife. Don’t try and hide behind her” she pressed her hands to her waist. “Not like you’d be any challenge anyway, not when I’m at my level,” if anything she wanted to do it just to say that she did. Danuja was the first Saiyan Queen to ever beat a Solarian in a brawl.

“You really wouldn’t last 20 seconds.” Sud returned smoothly. It’s said in a matter-of-fact manner. He’s not angered or even agitated by her hubris. If anything he finds it amusing.

“So the man has some balls huh? What do you say demons wanna brawl!” The demons in the congregation hesitate but when Danuja glares at them several begin to fake cheer. Satisfied, a toothy grin on her face, She pointed at Ikki. “Join in on the fun one v one v one that way things will last longer.”

The diminutive empress moved between the group.

“Lottus’ husband is being kind to you,” she remarked. “The two of you together might last a total ten seconds.”

“I’ll allow it.”

Everyone in the room heard Elizabeth say, looking displeased at the events transpiring.

“If allowing this fight to happen will allow for my coronation to move on as intended then I will allow anyone to beat up Nymph’s husband.”

Nymphaea glared at her sister. “Jeez, you are a big help Liz.” the soon to be empress gave her sister a smirk.

“You started this with almost shagging your hubby in the throne room sis.”

The group laughed, but then Danuja looked over at Asmodeus. There was something on her mind, something she was meaning to talk to the demon lord ever since she was told about this entire ordeal.

“Hey gramps,” Danuja said, “I have a proposal for you…”

---

For the entire ceremony and the ball following after, Ikki had been mostly removed from the rest of the group - sure, he joined them for the coronation, but was not that interested in mingling with the crowd, even Sud’s arrival barely caught his attention. Perhaps if Vikan was still around, they could have had some banter between them - but not long after the battle, the space pirate was caught trying to find a way to flee from Maikai without anyone noticing, and so, for that, he got returned back to the Saiyan’s care. Thanks to a bit of handy help from Liz’s new empire, he was now back in the mortal realm, in the hands of the Galactic Patrol.

Ikki glanced towards Danu and Sud once the fellow Saiyan called out to him, and snickered. In truth, he didn’t have any interest in battling the Solarian - he didn’t miss his and Glacia’s brief exchange.

“I’m not sure why this is a problem to anyone here. Maikai is a big place, and you both can fly faster than sound,” he replied, stepping away from the wall and walking up to Danu. “I’m sure you could excuse yourself to the Queen and find a barren wasteland where you can fight to your heart’s content.”

Ikki then glanced at Danu directly. “But no, I’d rather duke it out in a dimension which isn’t permanently suppressing my power level. That’s just not very fair, is it?”

“I agree with Ikki.” Elizabeth called out. “There is miles of wasteland around. You two can beat each other to a bloody pulp out there so I don’t have to spend more zeni on the royal treasury to repair the damages. You people didn’t see it but the costs of repairs from the dark tournament alone was already making the repairs for the city expensive. I don’t need you two bankrupting my empire before it can get started.”

She looked at Ikki. “Hey Ikki. Do you mind if we go somewhere private?” the royal guards looked at Elizabeth. “Yes. Private. I can take care of myself.” the guards didn’t question Elizabeth as she got up.

The witch would conjure a rift for the two. “Come on.” she told him as she stepped inside the rift.

“Sure, of course.” Ikki replied simply and joined after her.

Ikki would find himself inside the bedroom that Elizabeth stayed in. But the door to the balcony was wide open as the curtains blew.

If he followed Elizabeth outside he would find her looking out to the city.

“I sometimes think that I’m living in a dream.” she told him.

“I’ve regained my rightful place on the throne, my mother is back, and you’re not dead again. Seriously Ikki, you gotta stop doing that. One of these days you will die for real and we would think you're pulling our legs.” she let out a chuckle.

She would look down. “I was scared that I really lost you back there. When I saw how empty your eyes were I…”

“I know.” Ikki replied, softly, and wrapped his arms around Liz. “It feels terrifying, as if a part of you has been taken away, and you just want to... rip the person who did this to you. Right?”

His eyes glanced off to the side. “I... felt much of the same, in the battle prior - when Tarragon’s minions beat everyone, especially you, to the inch of your life. It was... hard for me to control myself, it was terrifying.” The Saiyan then smiled. “I suppose that can assure you that whatever you feel towards me - it’s mutual.”

The half demon blushed from the hug and hearing him saying that what she was feeling was mutual. She was looking around trying to think of what she can say at this moment. But she found her words stuck.

While she was distracted a small shadowy head appeared in the shape of a dragon. The dragonic head rolled it’s eyes at the scene. It would control Elizabeth’s shadow so her body would turn and face Ikki while she was still held by him.

The witch let out a startled yelp at the sudden change but seeing him now face to face any idea of asking why she was moved went away.

She placed her hand on his cheek. “I’m not gonna lie. I’ve been feeling these strange feelings whenever I think of you. I ignored them for a while. But whenever I see another woman show interest in you I would feel jealous for some reason, defensively so. Like they were trying to take you from me. I didn’t understand why I felt that way until I thought Nihilus took you from me.”

She would rub her thumb on his cheek. “I think I understand now what I’m feeling.”

Hearing her confession, Ikki flashed a soft smile. He could already imagine what this meant, but he let Elizabeth take the stage.

“Then tell me.”

“I... I...”

Elizabeth found the words hard for her to say which made her blush increase.

“Oh screw it.”

She would grab his cheeks and move his head close so she can move up and kiss him on the lips. Ikki was left shocked at first, but gave in, and after a few seconds of impassioned kiss, they both moved back.

“That... was actually not my first guess,” the Saiyan muttered, now faintly blushing himself as well. “But... if that’s how you feel... then I feel the same.”

Elizabeth blinked a few times. “What was your first guess then?” she asked as she gave him a smile. Overjoyed to hear that he feels the same way. She would move her hands off his cheeks and warp her arms around him.

“I don’t know, a ‘I love you’ or so first came to my mind,” Ikki replied. “Although, knowing my luck, I wouldn’t have been that surprised if something terrible had happened.”

Liz would smirk.

“I think my luck has been just as shitty,” she would say with a little chuckle, before her smile faded. “But maybe for both of us, it will get a little better.”

[Britanania]

Royal Palace, Central City, Kingdom of Earth, Spring 507 AU

Despite the shocking outbreak of violence on Mars, the Saiyan government and its clandestine allies maintained a near-complete information embargo regarding the full situation of the Martian Conflict. The Earth government, largely through AEGIS, had some information, but nothing concrete enough to act more aggressively, and with legal loopholes in Arsle's back-pocket, maintained her grip on the situation.

And so life on Earth passed as it had, days and weeks turned to months as peace--bought by its heroes--reigned.

The big item of gossip now, however, was the impending arrival of Empress Glacia to Earth for her first official visit to the special administrative zone since the Sol System's incorporation into the PTO. Some speculated on the real reason for her visit, the most likely excuse being the Mars situation, and although meeting with Queen Mother Arsle was on the agenda, the first few days would be spent on Earth's capital city, to meet with Prime Minister Yoshida and the Earth Cabinet, and of course the Royal Family.

Among the other guests to the Palace were the members of Wraith Squadron and their families, which would serve as a reunion of sorts for the team that had helped Glacia gain her crown and who saved the Galaxy and the Earth on a number of occasions. A notable absence was that of Danuja, who no one had seen since the end of the Demon Realm Tournament.

The dining hall at the Palace was filled with the guests of honour, as Glacia walked--or rather, floated in her pod--through the doors.

"My friends, it is good to see you," she told them.

[Britanania]

Naval is slightly indisposed so he asked me to post this for him

Palace, Dis, Kingdom of Pandaemonium, Maikai

Elizabeth let out a loud sigh as she leaned back on her chair. “Maybe I should have been glad that I wasn’t empress. If I knew I had to deal with more paperwork I would have passed on trying to regain more throne.”

Elizabeth looked up at the ceiling. The dark tournament ended the conflict for as long as it did but once it was over the nations that didn’t join resume on their raids which meant Liz had to step up her army to fight them off. Moreover she still has to fix the economy as it is still devastated by the internal rebellions and invasions from outside. It makes plans on not only fixing but reforming it difficult.

Already the prisons for rebels and raiders were being overcrowded and with more being sent to them she can’t afford to make more, especially as she needs the resources and funds for other projects.

“I wish I can just take some of Earth’s nukes and drop them on some of the more persistent raider states.” Elizabeth would raise her hand and make a cigarette fly to her hand. Just as she was going to light it she would hear a set of feet running to her door.

“Mummy!” The little girl’s voice rang out as she entered her mother’s office, slamming opening the heavy doors. “Theo says she put a curse on me!”

The green haired child stopped in the middle of the room, crying and icing her eyes. Behind her, her sister walked in.

“I didn’t put a curse on you, my friends said you already had one,” she lazily said, only causing her sister to cry even more.

Elizabeth sighed once more as she put the cigarette back on the ashtray.

“Alexia. You aren’t cursed. Your sister is messing with you. And if she isn’t then her spectral friends are.”

Elizabeth turned to the other little girl. “Theodora, you know that is a nasty lie to pull on your sister. You know she easily believes ridiculous stuff like that.”

“But it isn’t ridiculous,” Theodora told her. “My friends said you are cursed. That means we are cursed, too.”

Elizabeth was looking at the silver hair girl with skepticism.

“I’m cursed? What curse did your friends say I have?”

“They say you are cursed by a dragon.”

Elizabeth looked at the two girls with concern. “What? They are saying you two are cursed because of my deal?” she would look at the two.

“You two aren’t cursed. Yes you have some of that dragon’s essence in you but whatever curse I have is mine to bear, not yours. You two are free from any curse.” she assured the green hair girl with freckles dotting her cheeks, a gift from her father.

“That’s boring,” Theodora said with a frown. “What if I wanted to be cursed?”

“You are not cursed and that’s final.” Elizabeth said with finality in her tone. Theodora sighed.

“Fine,” she pouted and crossed her small arms.

“Good.” she gave the two a smile. “Now how about we go somewhere for some fun? Mommy can use a break from the neverending paperwork.” she told the two as she got up from her chair.

She would walk up to the two girls and reach up to grab Alexia and carry her. Theodora she knows now would only allow herself to be carried if she wants to.

“Where are we going, mummy?” Alexia asked Liz.

Elizabeth thought about it. “Not sure. Just anywhere that isn't here. You two want to go anywhere?”

“Isn’t there a party we have to go to?” Theodora asked. “My friends said they heard you and daddy talking about it.”

Elizabeth’s eyes lit up when Theodora mentioned that. “Right. I almost forgot about that. We’re gonna see aunty Nymphy and some of our friends on Earth in the party. But more importantly you two and your brother get to visit Earth for the first time.” she told the two.

“Yay!” Alexia cheered.

Elizabeth would create a portal. “Now you two go run off and get ready for the party while I finish some things here. Also tell your brother we will be leaving soon.”

She would put down Alexia and she would hurrily run into the portal with Alexia joining in afterwards.

“Hopefully nothing will happen at this party.” she would turn back to the table and sign off on a few papers that she found more pressing with their content than the others before she left her office to prepare herself for the party.

---

Royal Palace, Central City, Kingdom of Earth, Spring 507 AU

The portal opened up in the middle of the room, depositing Liz and her family in the midst of the commotion.

“Sorry we’re a little late,” she would tell everyone. “Just had some work I needed to finish doing.”

Nymph would give her sister a smile and a wave.

“Oh it’s no problem sis. Everyone else just go here too,” she would say as she looked down ay Sybille and Magnus.

“Now go play with your cousins,” she would say as Glacia made her way into the room.

[Finland SSR]

Outside of the palace of the new Queen of Maikai, in the vast courtyard, a spar was taking place. The clash of swords was by no means ferocious - a training duel, not to mention that one of the people fighting was still a little child.

Faust, Prince of Maikai, was now on one knee, pushed back by one of the Lamia’s blows - however, he was still holding onto his training sword tightly, watching his tutor and waiting for her next move.

Meroe slithered forward, raising the broadsword above her head and coming down against her kinsmen’s training sword.

“Watch yourself, Faust,” the Grand Duchess warned. “An attack can come from anywhere.”

The prince raised his sword to block the strike, though his defense was sloppy against an attack stronger than him and so quickly faltered.

“I know,” he muttered after ducking to the side, then lunged forward with a swing and a scream.

The Lamia smiled, parrying with her sword and gave a riposte of her blade against the young prince.

“And keep in mind the size and strength of your opponent! It isn’t everything, but it’s a factor you cannot overlook.”

The riposte narrowly slashed past Faust’s shirt and got the young prince to back away.

“Then one day, I’ll become bigger than you and Mom,” he called out as he held onto his sword tightly. “Then I will be the one warning you!”

Once again, Faust went for the same tool in his arsenal - lunging at his opponent with fury.

Using her tail like a spring, Meroe propelled herself into the air and landed behind Faust.

“That may be true, but today you aren’t, and if you’re serious about fighting, a mistake like that will cost you your life.” The Lamia threw her sword into the air, catching it with the hilt facing upwards and struck the boy in the back. With a yelp, he flew headfirst into the ground, barely stopping himself from rolling across the courtyard like a ragdoll.

Despite a yet another powerful blow, the prince continued pushing forward - he rose back to his feet, albeit more weakly than before, and stretched his free left hand forward. Instinctively, ki began to gather in front of his palm and fired as a basic energy blast.

Meroe frowned, forming a magical barrier with her own free hand and absorbed the attack.

“No energy attacks during fencing,” she said with a sigh. “At least not until you’re old enough to control it.”

“Uh... I-I forgot, I’m sorry...” Faust muttered in dismay and looked away to the side. It hadn’t even come to his mind that he was attacking with his ki until the last possible moment - the energy was so instinctual to him that he had barely noticed.

“I should... probably get going, anyway. Mom said we’re attending some dumb party tonight.”

The Lamia relaxed a bit.

“Yes, you’re going to the Earth for the first time. You’ll get to see your cousins and meet some of your mother’s other friends. Just don’t have too much fun,” she added, noting his displeasure at going. “And when you come back, we can spend an extra hour training,” the Lamia said with a wink. “Just don’t tell your mother.”

Immediately, Faust’s moody face brightened up. “Really?! Yes!”

---

Faust was silent as he followed his mother and his two sisters through the rift - and while Theodora and Alexia immediately came to meet with their cousins from Earth, he hardly appeared excited for the prospect. With his hands in his pockets, the young prince followed after his sisters, but did not introduce himself, merely standing by and either watching or glancing away towards the decor of the palace. Still, however, he wasn't completely shut off, and was ready to answer if anyone spoke to him first.

The hall of guests to the Palace, meanwhile, received several new arrivals. The Galactic Patrol, though not a common presence in Earth's sector, took the chance of one of their own being invited to a gala in the Royal Palace to make an official diplomatic mission - and so, alongside Ikki Kita, the famous Star Sheriff and hero of the Galactic Frontier, several of his fellow Patrolmen marched to the hall behind him. For the occasion, the Patrolmen were dressed in their ceremony uniforms.

"Alright, everyone, now-" Ikki was about to start explaining to his peers on how they should act, but as soon as he caught a particular person in the corner of his eye, he stopped. "-you know what to do. I'm going to excuse myself."

Quickly, the Saiyan pushed himself through the crowd, before pulling in Liz by her hand from behind and hugging her.

"It's been a while."

[Naval Monte]

---

Elizabeth was looking around at the party when she was pulled back and enveloped in a tight hug by a surprise guest. "Ikki?! I wasn't expecting you to be here. Formal events like this aren't your thing." she would return the hug. Elizabeth look down. "You look fancy." the demonic queen complemented.

Nymphaea was watching the two hugging and looked over at a waiter. "You have a camera I can borrow?" the man would shake his head. "Darn. I wanted to take a picture of those two hugging." Close by to where Nymphaea was Magnus was trying to lift Pesu up so the shark can take a piece of steak that was having a piece hanging off the table. He saw the shark was trying to get the piece earlier so he decided to help the shark up.

"This is a dumb idea brother." Sybille told him. "Nah. This time Pesu can have a treat and won't cause a mess." Magnus replied back as Magnus floated up and Pesu caught the steak. The little warlock floated backwards, blowing a raspberry at his sister as he proved her wrong.

However as he floated back he didn't see that his path would put him to where Faust was.

Alexia and Theodroa were looking around at the place and at the humans. The humans, beastmen, and monster folks looked similar to demons but they had some features that they lacked and their powers felt different, mainly that most had no power what so ever.

The two would suddenly turn to look at their mother and their eyes would light up who she was with.

"DADDY!" they both shouted as they ran up to Ikki so they can give their father a hug.

[The Republic of Atria]

The Meetup

As it turned out, raising a child came with a lot of time being spent taking care of the child, and a even more time not spent training or even sleeping. The first few weeks were the worst, with Deimos waking up in the middle of the night either hungry or needing a diaper changed. Though he and Anchovy worked out a system where'd they'd take shifts watching Deimos so the other could sleep, train, or both. So he managed to maintain his strength despite that. The system worked rather well, with Ovan having more than enough money to ensure that they didn't need to spend any time actually working.

Moving into the Dojo turned out to be an excellent plan. There was plenty of space for Deimos to grow, and eventually train. According to Anchovy, and his own experience, Deimos was growing quickly because of his Saiyan blood. It only took about six months and already he was babbling some things that could almost be considered words, along with almost being able to walk. Another six months passed and he was speaking almost fluently and was walking quite well, he was even beginning to learn how to fly. Just in time too, for once, he watched the news and caught wind that, of all people, Glacia was stopping by Earth for a little bit.

He figured it was as good a time as any to stop by and get reacquainted with the gang. Anchovy agreed and the family made their way to the capital.

"Hey guys." Ovan said as he landed. "Been a minute. you guys know Anchovy, and this is... Uh, This is our son, Deimos." He said, motioning to Anchovy who was carrying the small boy.

[Britanania]

Royal Palace, Central City, Kingdom of Earth, Spring 507 AU

Glacia's arrival officially kicked off the celebration, but it wasn't long before other guests began to fill into the dining hall for the festivities. Among the first to arrive were Elizabeth and her three children, who made their way to see their Earth-raised cousins. Spicer, wearing the same uniform he wore during Danuja's coronation, knelt down to Selene and Helios.

"Go and play," he gently said.

Selene nodded with a big smile.

"Okay daddy!" the princess happily said as she ran off to see her fellow half-breed Saiyans. Helios, as stoic and taciturn as usual, similarly wandered off towards them in silence. Spicer stood back up just as the Galactic Patrol delegates arrived, including Ikki. The Saiyan noted as he went off to greet some more guests alongside Serena, when Ovan and Anchovy showed up next with their son.

Spicer offered his cousin a smile.

"Anchovy, I hope you're doing well," he told her as he turned Ovan.

"General, how is the dojo faring these days?" Spicer politely asked before looking at Deimos, still in his mother's arms.

"And hello, Deimos," he greeted the small half-Saiyan.

[The Anarcho-Syndicalist Commune]

Arsle

The Queen Mother of Mars strode through the royal palace of Earth, feeling all eyes on her as she walked the halls. Perhaps the various attendants of the royal princes and the parliament had heard snippets of how she was controlling her daughters kingdom. Perhaps they merely feared the scarred half of her face, normally hidden behind a long shock of her hair, now proudly displayed. Or perhaps they were wondering why the woman old enough to have one of the most powerful warriors in the galaxy for a daughter was holding an infant.

None of it truely mattered to her. If it were up to her, she wouldn’t have even shown herself until these peace talks she had been invited to. But she knew her daughter well, and knew that Chay would want her daughter to meet the children of her friends, even if she was only a few months old. Arsle felt a brief burst of concern regarding Chay that she tried her best to hide as she slinked into the chamber holding the Empress and Chay’s friends. Though her daughter disappearing on trips was nothing new, and the enforced secrecy around her pregnancy had made Chay more stir crazy than ever. But this time she was gone for far longer than expected. Not that there was much in the universe that could hurt Chay, but still.

Arsle approached Ovan and Spicer, the small child wrapped in her arms whining slightly. Nodding to Spicer, Arsle said calmly “General, where is your daughter? I do not want to interrupt your festivities for too long and I have a task for her.”

[Finland SSR]

Star Sheriff Ikki

---

"Yeah... I didn't actually want to come, but the Patrol insisted that I go and pick up a few colleagues - they're really interested in establishing themselves more on Earth, apparently, so my invitation was the perfect excuse," Ikki explained himself, hearing his partner's surprise in his presence. With the corner of his eye, he could see his fellow patrolmen already mingling with the crowd - and they were already speaking to Earth's ministers, politicians and business representatives, introducing themselves as the Galaxy's loyal and stalwart police at each opportunity.

"I look fancy? Maybe, but it's certainly more simple than what some other people here are wearing..."

Right at this time, two balls of pure cuteness slammed into Ikki from the side, forcing the Saiyan to let go of his partner and embrace his daughters.

"Wow, you're already so big..." he muttered. The last time he saw Alexia was barely after she was born - and now, she was already speaking and tackling him. Sure, time passes much faster in Maikai, but still, it has been a while.

"This is your first time on Earth, right?" the Saiyan continued and placed his daughters on each shoulder. "Then come on, let's go meet everyone else." Ovan had just arrived, with a wife and a child in tow, introducing the latter as Deimos.

"Long time no see!" Ikki called out, grinning. "Jeez, it's almost like the whole world takes a one-eighty turn every time I leave you all behind. Now you've settled down with a family, too..."

---

Lacking little else to do, Faust reached up one of the tables across the room and picked up a glass of juice, arranged tightly for the children of the visitors to have refreshments. Content with his prize, the young demonic prince was about to make his way back to his mother, only for something to hit him in the back. The push was sudden enough that the glass slipped from his fingers - and though he caught it before it fell, much of the contents spilled on the floor.

Faust turned around and yelled:

"Watch where you're going, you-"

As soon as he saw who bumped into him from behind, however, the prince sighed and lowered the hand which he was about to smack the other child with.

"You're Aunt Nymph's kids, right?" Faust spoke up. "Mom said your mom is clumsy, but you're even worse."

[Ranoria]

Arashi
Royal Palace, Central City, Kingdom of Earth, Spring 507 AU

"Holdmeholdmeholdmeholdme!" Rather than a greeting, Arashi's arrival was announced by a jovial child's plea - one which was soon answered.

"What do we say?" He asked more as a formality than anything.

"Please?"

With his urge to instill more manners in the kid than he had himself satisfied, Arashi hoisted up little Hugo without much difficulty, but that apparently wasn't correct.

"No no, not like this," Hugo advised, his arms spread to emphasize the point. "Holy me up-ee-side down like a bat!"

Arashi squinted at him with a farce of a scowl. "Like a bat?"

"Yes."

The Tohran complied, flipping the toddler over and wrapping an arm around his waist while Hugo himself grinned ear to ear taking in the party from this angle.

"You know little dude, you could just fly if you wanted to be upside down? That would be mu--"

"Hiii guys!" And now Arashi winced at Hugo's excited outburst upon seeing Spicer and Serena, but couldn't bring himself to do anything but laugh at it. The Solarian tike crunched up to look at Arashi and pointedly ordered, "Shi-Shi, put me down please."

Arashi let go, allowing Hugo to rotate himself midair before he addressed Serena with an ecstatic, "Your hair looks beautiful!" and Spicer by informing him, "You are a girl." With those dire matters addressed, he bolted off to find Selene and Helios, much to the chagrin of the latter.

Arashi scratched the back of his head apologetically, "Yeah I can't control that thing, but I think I know where he got his lack of formality. Very proud." Once his own whirlwind of a charge was out of the way, the first thing he noticed was Arsle approaching. Baby in her arms or not, his expression immedietely hardened. "You'll excuse me," he offered to Spicer and Serena, and took his leave.

Fortunately, he found Nymph soon after, and a metaphorical lightbulb went off.

"Hey Nymph, mind if I pick your brain a bit?" Of course, it was more a statement, less a question, and he didn't give her a chance to protest before pointing over to his little one. "So Hugo over there, the one harassing Selena and Helios, he's Solarian. I've managed to keep him alive so far, but with your expertise in the area, I was wondering if you've noticed anything in particular with their needs and whatnot that could help me out."

[Britanania]

Royal Palace, Central City, Kingdom of Earth, Spring 507 AU

As Spicer greeted Ovan and his family, one of the last guests to arrived showed up; Queen Regent Arsle, carrying in her arms Danuja's infant daughter, Malla. Spicer, along with Serena of course, was aware of Malla's existence but up until fairly recently she was a matter of close government secrecy on Mars--secrecy from the Saiyan government was becoming a continuing theme with the Saiyan Council's administration, the general was coming to realise.

In any event, as Arsle arrived, Spicer gave her a polite bow.

"Your Highness," Spicer greeted her, "Selene is playing over with Lottus' children," he explained. Hearing her name, the little princess turned towards her father and toddled over to him and Arsle.

"Hello daddy!" she told him before looking at the Saiyaness. Selene remembered what was told about meeting important people, and she gave Arsle a curtsy. "Hello, Your Highness," Selene then said to Arsle with a smile.

Meanwhile, Helios hung around Magnus and Sybille as they were feeding Pesu, saying nothing as Magnus gave the shark some food. next to Helios, Squiggly munched on some candy, and Helios nodded Faust talking to his cousins before feeling a familiar and uncomfortable sensation as Hugo came over to join them. Helios frowned and furrowed his brow, but said nothing as the Solarian child came to sit with them.

[The Anarcho-Syndicalist Commune]

Arsle

The Queen Mother lightly regarded Spicers bow, but couldn’t help but smile for the small blonde girl. She said in her rough voice “Selene dearest, I told you you can just call me Arsle. I have a special job for you, to prove that your a big girl.”

Arsle knelt next to the princess and showed her the infant Malla. A thick shock of black hair covered the child’s head and the typical black eyes of a Saiyan looked around the room with intense curiosity. Malla’s tail wagged it’s way out of the cloth while Arsle showed her to Selene. “This is Malla” continued Arsle “Her mommy would very much want her to get to know you and the rest of her ‘cousins’ if she were here, so I need you to help me out today and watch over her and include her in the party.” Arsle held out Malla for Selene to take her. “Besides, I know your very responsible father will help you if you need it.”

[The Republic of Atria]

Spicer

"Look, I'm pretty sure I've told you to just call me Ovan." He said with a half smile. "And honestly, It's been nice. Converted it into a second home because someone, I won't name names, blew up my house." He said, Anchovy looking smug while holding the babbling toddler that was their son. "Got a good deal on my insurance, so we're just focusing all our efforts into making sure the little monster isn't trying to lick the sockets. Other than that, nothing really comes to mind."

"Yeah, little bastard loves getting into trouble." Anchovy said. "And I love him for that. Once he gets a little older and training starts, I can bet he'll be tearing things up in no time."

"That's why we moved to one of the few places on Earth designed for that very purpose." Ovan said.

Meanwhile Deimos looked at Spicer with the blank expression. "H-Hi." He managed to squeak out.

[Britanania]

Royal Palace, Central City, Kingdom of Earth, Spring 507 AU

Selene gently and tenderly took hold of Malla's small form from Arsle, looking first at her father and then at the scarred Saiyaness. The princess smiled at Arsle and gave her a nod.

"Okay, Arsle, I will look after Malla," the little girl said to the elder Saiyaness with her usual cheery disposition, holding the much small child close to her chest. Meanwhile, Spicer gave a slight glance towards his daughter as he continued his conversation with Ovan and his small. Deimos gave Spicer a somewhat shy greeting, which Spicer returned with a slight smile, before turning his full attention to Ovan himself.

"It seems that you already removed his tail," Spicer noted as Anchovy and Ovan explained the trouble Deimos gets into. "Had to have been a difficult decision," he indicated to his cousin, "albeit, a necessary one."

As Spicer talked to Ovan, Glacia floated around and mingled with the Earth dignitaries, giving slight attention to Arsle as she talked to Selene.

[Naval Monte]

Royal Palace, Central City, Earth, 507 AU

Glacia’s attention from Arsle was interrupted as she saw Ikki with his two daughters walking through the room. The Empress of the known galaxy gave them a smile.

“Officer Kita,” she said to Ikki, “I see you are doing well.”

The two girls both turned their attention to Glacia once she addressed her presence to their father.

“Sup.” Elizabeth casually gave the empress a wave. She knew that proper etiquette demands she address her like a noble but Elizabeth was never one for such stuffy traditions. She obeyed them back in the Order but now that she was her own woman she had little interest in following such actions again.

The two girls would spourt little demonic wings and fly towards Glacia and tackle her. The two give the small empress a hug. Demonic tails growing from the tail as they began to waggle from side to side in an excited manner.

“She’s cute!” The two said in unison. Alexia began to pat the empress on the head. “She’s like a living doll.” Alexia turned to her parents. “Can we keep her?”

Elizabeth tried to contain her laughter but failed miserably. The demonic empress began to laugh loudly at the scene the two girls were causing.

Glacia gave the two girls a smile as she hugged them back, looking over to Elizabeth.

“Ah, I see they take over from the Ashwood line,” Glacia remarked. “Such wonderful hellions.”

“They are.” Elizabeth said as she smiled at her girls.

“I imagine they take after you in other ways too,” Glacia added. Theodora looked up at Glacia with a blank expression.

“My friends told me you fought Death.” She said with little emotion before looking at her mother. “Have you fought Death mummy?”

Elizabeth's smile turns into a look of nervousness as Theodora instantly flipped into that eerie state she gets into whenever her spiritual entourage speaks to her.

“Well…” she looked around to make sure no one was eavesdropping. “Yes, twice in fact.”

Theodora looked at her mother for a few moments.

“Is that now you became queen?”

Elizabeth thought on what to say when she heard a voice call out.

“I’m not clumsy! You were in my way!” she heard Magnus reply back to her son.

Sybille, who was not far away from her brother, just shook her head as she let out a loud sigh.

“Why am I related to an idiot?” Squiggly stopped his eating and looked over at the twins, letting out a slight chirp before going back to his food.

[Finland SSR]

Star Sheriff Ikki

---

Before Ikki could comment on just how cute Deimos was, or really say anything more than his initial greeting, his attention got drawn to the side. Glacia approached him and his partner, offering her introductions - of course, she was here. Her appearance was the reason why this ball was being held, after all.

"We could be doing much worse, I suppose. Life has been a lot less tense compared to what was happening the last time we met, at least," Ikki replied, Asmodeus' tournament on his mind. The two girls on his shoulders jumped off and tackled the Arcosian - they took after their aunt in how they reacted to her, it seems.

The Saiyan lightly grinned, amused, but once again, an another event caught his attention. Several of the people attending the ball were turning towards one of the tables, noticing a screaming match between two children taking place. And of course, it just so happened that one of the children was his.

"I wasn't in anyone's way! I was standing there and you bumped at me!" Faust yelled back at Magnus. Instinctively, ki began to gather in his hand, and the swirling energy was already turning visible. Before he could blow up the unfortunate Ashwood, though, he was suddenly picked up by two arms from behind.

"Now what are you doing here, young man?" Ikki spoke as he held Faust - his tone was meant to be chastising, but with how soft the Saiyan's voice always was, it really came off more curious. Though surprised at his father's sudden appearance, especially as he didn't even know Ikki would be here tonight, Faust merely looked away and mumbled.

"He bumped at me and spilled my glass..."

"Aw, that's it? That's really what you were about to blast him for?" Ikki replied as he picked up another glass of juice to hand it to the child, then looked down at Magnus. "But, you know, cousins be cousins. Not that... uh, I'd ever know how cousins interact."

[Naval Monte]

Royal Palace, Central City, Earth, 507 AU

Nymphaea wished she can scream externally but because she was surrounded by people she had to settle for internal screaming. She kept her smile as she wished to every higher power in existence to leave the party now.

She looked around as she tried to think of a way to answer his question without it being an obvious lie. “Solarian children?” she would look at seeing a bunch of kids picking out many small cakes. “Always give them three meals a day and never let them eat too much sweets, especially as night.” she explained.

Nymphaea was hoping that what she told Arashi would be good enough for him to believe. She wished she can lie as naturally as her sister.

“Make sure you give them plenty of toys because Solarian children have a ton of energy. Trust me I sometimes barely have time for myself.”

Nymphaea would hear a commotion happening close by.

When she looked over she saw Magnus fighting with another child. She saw the child charging a Ki attack and worse her own son was charging a fireball.

“I have to go!” she would dash off to grab her son before he can start a fight.

Nymphaea would see Ikki come over and pull the boy up, causing his attack to end and Magnus to dismiss his spell.

Nymphaea would wipe her brows as she let out a sigh of relief as she walked towards the trio.

“Thanks for ending that fight Ikki.” she gave him a smile until she look down at Magnus.

“Did you fly backwards again? Next time watch where you are going or else the next time you bump into someone you may cause an accident that won’t be so easy to fix.”

Magnus turn away. “It was still his fault for not moving.” Pesu would ignore the commotion as the shark ate the steak.

Magnus looked up at Ikki. “Cousin?” he looked back at Ikki. “Wait. He was that baby I saw when I visited aunty Liz?!” the boy was shocked at the revelation on who bumped into him.

[Turkducken]

Spring 506 AU

Strazhdannya, Deep in Former Heran Space

Port Rozhok, Inside the Sealed City


As violence and demonstrations grew at the Port. The calm relaxed interior of the city stood defiant against the storm of emotion. No sounds could pierce the thick walls. No smoke could be seen. Within the walls it was peaceful, within the walls it was controlled. However, despite it all, a twinge of apprehension and panic pulsed through the inhabitants of the city. Lord Polara's Elites had been activated, and they marched rigidly through the walkways and halls of the sealed city. Something had changed, and although they could not know it, a monster was sealed away in the center of their beloved lives.

In the looming figure of the Administration Building, deafened screams shook the air. Those silent shock waves shaking the air and foundation of the building. Within the deepest bowels of the imposing building, tortured screams shook the fiber of the lesser willed. Horrible deafening screams of grotesque pain chilled the body and defeated the soul. Past the soundproofing and hermetic seals, they could be heard. Horrid animal screams of primal pain and terror. Pinned to a sleek table, ridged like a tray, was the source of these screams. Spread, presented, and pinned in a perturbing manner like a crude dissection of a frog. Hundreds of cold indifferent metal hands cut, scanned, probed, and syringed on the interior of a peeled back abdomen. Hot steam constantly erupted from each incision made and sample took. Nude form stripped and lay in a thin pool of its' own juices. Organic Eye bulging and spasming from the constant pain. Stark white hair matted and partially soaked red. He screamed again.

"Fascinating..." the surgeon observed in awe, "Such regenerative properties..." the surgeon poured over the constant stream of data, "Cardiovascular efficiency two hundred percent of what was expected...all sample toxins are being purged...with increasing efficiency as they are repeatedly administered!" the surgeon chortled, "Hoho! You may just be the best gift from the Empress I've yet to receive!" Polara broke his consuming gaze on the data, leaving the machine operating automatically. "With this data alone I could enrich the whole of our species!" Polara excitedly explained to the room, "Just think! A new generation of nigh indestructible Acrosians! A new Acros would be a trifle! We could be unstoppable!"

The room was silent except for the Acrosian's excited speech. His captive audience, strapped to two similar tables, silently hung from their restraints. Both were Herans. One with matted long flowing hair. The other missing an eye, his shoulder length hair messily strewn around his hanging head. They both were stripped nude and splayed wide. Any pretense of dignity or respect had been stripped from them. "My saving grace!" Polara excitedly carried on, "The Executive Council will surely restore my seat for this!" he began the process of transferring his surgical data to a local disk for transfer, "I can finally strike back at the Bitch Empress!" he pounded a fist into the remote surgeons console, "Finally...a way off this Gods forsaken world."

The room grew quiet as he huddled over the console, visibly shaking with rage. He calmed himself after a moment. Turning around to face his two other subjects, "Well..." he started coolly, "before we get on to any of that." he floated commandingly over to Hoiyt cupping his down turned chin with the smooth scale skin of his palm, "Traitors will be made to suffer." he said with a sadistic smile. Hoiyt said nothing, having resigned himself to his fate as a caught turncoat the moment they had been surprised. Polara jerked his head up violently, squeezing his chin painfully, "Do you hear me worm? I said traitors will be made to suffer!" tears had been falling freely from Hoiyt's face, it was slick with tears. "You'll pay for every minor nuisance Hoiyt." Polara continued with sick satisfaction, "Oh I've waited for this day. Yes since the first time I laid eyes on you, I knew you were nothing but trouble!" he spat, "I will enjoy this. I swear to you I will."

There was a boom as another one of Higashi's screams silently reverberated through the walls, "That Hairless Ape must really be something!" Polara turned, dropping Hoiyt's face, "With no anesthetic a lesser creature would've passed out hours ago! Hoho!" he laughed with a misplaced mirth, "Fuck...You..." an exhausted and pained voice spoke softly. Polara ceased his laughter, rotating slowly back around to face the two other prisoners, "What was that?" Avakia defiantly glared at the Acrosian, exhausted body struggling to hold her head up, "Shut...the...fuck...up...." she whispered, unable to manage anything more than her barely audible voice. Polara snatched her neck tightly. Claws dug into the soft flesh and blood began to flow. "What was that you said my subject? I couldn't hear you properly." Polara said flatly, irritation clearly coming through. Avakia choked, sputtering for air, unable to resist the Acrosians tight grip.

"She said..." Polara's grip lessened as Hoiyt's trembling voice rung out, "Fuck You. You ain't Shit." Hoiyt defiantly raised his head, staring directly into the indignant eyes of Polara. "If your plan is to bait me into ending our fun early, you're sorely mistaken." Polara spoke threateningly, "Mouthy and uncooperative subjects can be resolved." He released his grip on Avakia's neck, "Do you know how many tendons connect your tongue to mouth?" without waiting for a response he continued, "Just two. Two quick incisions in the easily accessible esophagus. I could have you choke on that mouthy tongue of yours." he said coldly, matter of fact, "For the sake of conversation do you know how many tendons connect an Acrosian tongue?" again without waiting for an answer he continued, "Four. This allows our species to communicate in a wide variety of native tongues. Of course that's only temporary, as our own lingua franca becomes so widely used. Designed for the lowest common denominator." he continued his monologue, confident, mocking, and arrogant, "Genius isn't it? Developed with large projections of the most common forms of evolution, before Acros was destroyed even!" Polara shrugged both shoulders, "And they were right! Further proof of our superiority." he finished very casually.

"So while I'm sure it would please you to have the honor of being thoroughly examined," Polara turned away from Hoiyt, "The Bitch will get what's coming to her!" his palm slammed down on the console connected to the slab Avakia was restrained to. Slowly it began to tilt back, coming to rest at a ninety degree angle. "Finish it you Lizard Bastard!" Hoiyt roared and struggled against the restraints, "I know you want me more! End this!" Polara feigned shock at Hoiyt's outburst, "Oh and now the traitor breaks his silence!" he pressed another button on the console, the screaming in the surgery room ceased. The Auto-Surgeon ceasing it's incessant operations, retreating into the ceiling. Hoiyt struggled harder, "You Bastard!" Hoiyt violently spat at Polara, "You Bastard!" he repeated himself, "Monster!" fear palpable in his voice "Gods damn you! Gods damn you!" the ceiling opened above Avakia, the Auto-Surgeon descended slowly. Avakia's head struggled to rise from the slab. Weakly, she gave Polara a smirk, her eyes dancing into his mind just as they did years ago, "Bring It." she weakly gasped.

Memories rushing through his agitated mind, Polara grabbed control of the Auto-Surgeon, "I will do this personally." he snarled, any pretense of humor or control having evaporated. The many arms of the surgeon shook mechanically as Polara manually piloted the machine. "Now..." the arms whirled to life skillfully under his control, "Where to make the first incision?" the machines arms hovered just above Avakia's exposed skin, her breathing quickened, sharp intakes of breath and an elevated heart rate were displayed to Polara as he continued to survey, "No no, where is that bold defiance?" Polara chided from behind his screen, "There's no use in being scared now child. You know what's about to happen!" the mechanical arms came to rest just above the center of her exposed chest, "I think I will start with the heart. Removal of the sternum is no easy task. Thankfully," he paused, words dripping with sadism, "I'm a master surgeon."

A small arm descended to just above the skin. Avakia's chest puffed with the rapid intake of breath, brushing against the tip of the arm. "Now." Polara spoke with a twinge of sick excitement, "Do hold still." A button on the console softly clicked, a small humming noise began to emit from the tip of the surgical arm. Avakia's breathing quickened, she gritted her teeth unimaginably tight, her chest pumping up and down. Silently, a small laser emitted from the tip of the device. It danced across the surface of her skin. Avakia made a bloodcurdling sound. The laser danced making sharp corners to the incision as Avakia writhed underneath. Polara smiled, a moment of triumph. Then came a sudden muted boom. The laser ceased. For a moment, the operating room was pitch black, with sharp mechanical snaps the emergency lights bathed the room in a red light. "What is this?!" Polara demanded, looking around for an explanation.

Avakia sputtered and gasped for air, bleeding heavily from the chest. "You...Lose..." she gasped, fighting for every breath beneath the shackles holding her to the table. "What did you say to me?!" Polara screamed at her, slamming his fist into her chest. She wheezed for air as an alarm silently started, "Lord Polara!" erupted from the intercom above, "An explosion has crippled our power!" Polara stood dumbfounded, "What?! How did this happen?!" the intercom crackled again, "Without the main generator the emergency power will fail!" the lights dimmed for a moment, "Emergency power at critical! Release the magnetic locks!" Polara was shocked, "No you fools! The city must remain closed!" the lights flickered again, "Locks Disengaged." Before Polara could scream at his soldiers again, came a loud pop snaps. In the operating room, Higashi had ripped his arms free of the shackles. Power cut to the suppressors previously keeping him tied down.

"Divert Emergency Power to the Energy Suppressors!" Polara commanded, Higashi sitting up and ripping his restrained ankles free, "Impossible sir! Too little power for too much to manage!" Higashi took weak lumbering steps to the thick observation glass, platinum blonde hair matted with blood and clinging to his face. He pounded heavily on the glass, the impact being heard through the soundproofing. Polara backed away, a twinge of fear running through his body. A second impact, this one harder, louder, cracked the glass. Polara looked around for any options, for an escape, but this was his own personal retreat. He had no easy way out. Higashi reeled back, putting his body into the weight of the blow. His fist shattered through the window ripping rightwards as he pulled back. Both of his hands came through the hole, pulling the glass and steel in either direction. Moisture and heat poured into the room. Through the cloud Higashi entered the room. Rising to his full height, he towered above Polara. One giant hand brushed his dirty clumped hair from his face, contorted in a frightening expression of pure hatred and rage. Still bleeding from the extensive cuts and opened abdomen, he spoke in a low growl, "You're gonna die." he coughed, steam erupting from somewhere inside.

Higashi took a mighty stride forward, floor warping under the weight and power, dashing faster than the eye could see. Polara flinched, taking a powerful uppercut to the chin. Higashi took another powerful step, carrying the blow upwards and following through. Polara felt himself lift higher than he had been floating, and with a thunderclap of a boom, he was gone. A massive hole punched through the ceiling. Layers and layers of floors having erupted up and out from the box at the bottom of the city. Higashi stood in the same position, fist stretched to the sky, "He'll be back." he weakly panted, and several sounds of concerning fleshy rips and a pssht of blood, his abdomen reopened. Steam erupting from between the stress fissures that broke open from the exertion of the attack. He fell to one knee, panting and bleeding as his weakened body slowly repaired itself. He had to take a moment to collect himself, finally rising a little shakily back to his full height. Plodding over to Avakia, strapped to the table, he put two massive hands around the auto-surgeon. Effortlessly he tore the horrible machine from its' mount, throwing it to the far side of the room, where it crumpled from the force into a metal ball. Higashi tore off her restraints. She was shaking, whether from the torture or cold, he didn't know. He sidestepped over to Hoiyt, who was staring at him slack jawed in disbelief, and did the same to his restraints.

"You get that eye patched up first." Higashi growled commandingly to Hoiyt, "Then you take her and get the hell out of here." He moved over to the door of private room, punching through it with relative ease, peeling it open. "Get her to the Port. Find a ship. Don't wait for me." He commanded, panting harder as he struggled to continue to stand. "This bastard has to die." He gave Hoiyt a pained but determined look. His gaze seeming very far off, as if remembering something from the past. "You're a crazy strong fucker." Hoiyt shook his head, still in disbelief, "Hours of that shit, and to just get up and deck the strongest thing on the planet like that?" Hoiyt attempted to brush his hair back out of his face, trying to find any actually useful medical equipment. "Yeah well," Higashi sighed, "Maybe not the strongest thing on the planet." Two hospital gowns were laying nearby, he tied them both together, fastening them to his waist. "Great..." he lamented, the barely modest improvised garment swaying loosely in the breeze, "Now it just looks like I'm wearing a fundoshi..." he sighed again, looking up through the hole he had punched the Acrosian through. He looked back at Avakia, who had weakly pushed herself up to sitting on the slab, "Get the hell out of here." he looked back up through the hole, "I'm gonna destroy this fucking place." with a painful bend, Higashi shot up through the hole.

Hoiyt was applying a thick gauze around his head, covering the exposed eye socket as best he could, "Tell me this is real?" Hoiyt asked of Avakia, "Tell me we didn't just die, and that this is some kind of fucked up dream?" Avakia made a face at him, "Shut Up." she weakly managed, pain shooting through her body as she attempted to move. Hoiyt finished his wrapping, "Whatever." he shook his head dismissively, "Let's get out of here." He hooked one arm under the fold of Avakia's knees, and wrapped his other around her back, "Whatever the hell that explosion was, I'm glad it happened before this got any worse." his eyes lingered on the still open and bleeding surgical incision on her chest. Avakia weakly smirked, "Let's just say I remembered a bit more of this place than Polara was expecting."

---

Higashi flew up through the hole, landing with a dense thud in what was the peaceful courtyard he had been paraded through on arrival. Again he fell to one knee, panting harder, but no longer bleeding like before. He recovered a bit quicker this time standing firm. The walled city was in total chaos. The heat and grime of the outside had made its way inside, black sticky tendrils coating everything it could wrap itself around. Protestors and Rioteers fought in the distance. "Enemy Sighted!" Higashi's vision was snapped upwards, a handful of Polara's Elites had spotted him, "Bring It!" he roared. The Elites flew at him, trying to take him from all sides. Higashi released a primal roar, grabbing one of the Elites by the head. Effortlessly, their scouter and helmet shattered under his grip. Higashi flung the Elite into his comrades, spinning him by the head. They were thrown to the far sides of the complex. The enemy defeated, Higashi again collapsed to one knee, feeling sick to his stomach. "Having a little trouble are we?"

Higashi shot to his feet again, stumbling on bucking knees, "You gave me more than a little trouble there, I'll admit," Higashi looked up again, "But I assure you, no more lucky breaks." Polara floated several feet above him, looking very little worse for wear, "I'll Kill You!" Higashi roared, weaker than his previous threats, "Hoho!" Polara laughed self-assuredly, "Did the poor Ape forget who his betters were?" Polara wagged a cocksure finger down at him, "Lest we not forget that I know all of your dirty secrets!" without warning Polara disappeared, his knee connecting powerfully with Higashi's abdomen. Higashi skid back, carving the earth underneath as he refused to be knocked down. Coming to a stop several feet from where he was standing, he fell forward, catching himself on his knees and right hand. He vomited, facing the ground, a sickly green acidic bile mixed with clear mucus and spectacularly red blood. Polara held his posture of attack, tilted to the right, left knee held in that powerful blow. He gave the hunched over Human a detestable smirk, "Your body is at its limit! You may have us outclassed in raw strength, but you could never hope to match our speed!" Polara chuckled to himself, returning to his confident pose of rest, "Much like the rest of the beasts we collect, the Kais' have simply made you inferior."

Higashi, struggling for breath, punched the earth beneath with his left fist. The muffled boom causing the ground and lower floors of the city to rumble. "I'm done listening to you!" he roared, fighting to stand on his own feet, "Always talking! Going on and on, because you know better than anyone else!" He looked up from his own pool of vomit, directly into Polara's eyes, "I'm sick of it!" with another mighty punch, he sprung up from the ground. He rushed forward, practically diving head first at the Acrosian, massive arms lethally spread to either side. Polara gave him another smirk, effortlessly dodging his slower opponent. With a masterful flourish, Polara stuck his claw like hand through the left side of Higashi's neck, "Listen to the Hairless Ape whine!" Polara teased, Higashi having been paralyzed by the blow, "I can do this because my body is superior to yours!" with some effort, a talon-like finger wiggled its way through the side of Higashi's neck it had violently entered, "We are simply--" Fleshy tendons erupted from Higashi's back, wrapping themselves firmly around Polara's right arm, "I'm sick of it!" Higashi roared again, Polara's eyes growing wide, "What?!" he shouted, clearly surprised, "Tora Appākatto!" Higashi screamed, right arm powerfully slamming into Polara's soft abdomen. Polara choked, breath forcefully expelling itself from his lungs.

Higashi followed through, carrying the force of his uppercut up and away. As the motion completed, Polara could barely think. He traveled further and further up, world moving in slow motion, a strange sense of tension building as he felt the universe being torn apart. With a sudden fleshy snap, and a spray of purplish blue blood, Polara flew through the air. Slamming into the ground with force enough to shatter it beneath him. "You Insect!" he seethed, struggling to pick himself up from the shallow crater he had made, "You Maggot!" he screeched, managing to stand, a strange object smacking directly in his face as he did. The sudden and unexpected attack knocked Polara down again, "Dammit!" he screamed, unsure of why he felt so off balance. His eyes struggled to focus through his outrage, but eventually revealed what he had been slapped by, almost comically intact; was his own arm. Covered in his own blood and viscera it lay directly in front of him. Polara's eyes in disbelief looked to his right side, and for the first time, he felt the pain of his severed arm. Higashi, his front covered in the blood of his enemy, showed no mercy. Dashing forward as Polara lay on the ground, howling in pain for his lost limb. He slammed his left fist into Polara's face, silencing his howls, and then brought down the right. He pummeled his opponent into the floor, unrelenting in his power.

The weakened floor collapsed under the onslaught, and they fell to the next, Higashi continuing his assault. Unexpectedly Polara's power surged, "Such Insolence!" he screamed, stopping Higashi's punishing blows with a flex of power. A new arm erupted from the vacant slot of the old, and Polara began to shift and change underneath him. With another sudden flare of power, Polara reversed the hold Higashi had locked. Now on top Polara spoke again, "How dare you?!" his voice strange and twisted, "You dare challenge me?!" Polara's body was reshaping, growing heavier, taller, monstrous, "I am Lord Polara the Fifth!" his face evolving into that of a predator, small horns growing proud, "And what are you?!" he demanded, extending a razor sharp claw over Higashi's chest, "Nothing!" he braced his stretched arm at the elbow with his other, "Less than Nothing!" a ball of energy gathering in the open palm, "A Mote! A speck of dust!" the ball of energy grew in size, black and bright pink energy crackling over Higashi's exposed skin, "A corpse to be observed! A body to be examined!" the ball of energy grew increasingly unstable, "A subject to be Exterminated!" the ball erupted in a flash of light, destroying the floor underneath Higashi. Both men falling another floor into the complex.

"Shit!" there was a shout of surprise as they landed on the new floor, "I thought you were handling this?!" Higashi weakly looked to the side, they had fallen right next to the still escaping Hoiyt, who was carrying the injured Avakia to an escape. A glimmer of movement from the corner of Higashi's vision, Hoiyt saw it too, but was far too slow to dodge. Polara's barbed tail flew through Hoiyt's left side, ripping his hip and waist as he fell to one side. "Fuck!" Hoiyt swore, "A Pity." Polara's much deeper voice coldly lamented, tail having pierced into the wall behind Hoiyt, "I appear to have missed." Hoiyt struggled to stand again, still carrying the now unconscious Avakia in his arms. Polara easily pulled his tail from the wall, the barbed end pulling down pieces of the wall with it, "Now do hold still for this." the tail coiled and thickened, "I've always been a terrible shot." As the tail shot forward, more tendons erupted from Higashi's body, seizing the appendage mid motion. "That trick again?" Polara dismissively questioned, chopping through the muscle with ease. "Get Her out of Here!" Higashi roared, Hoiyt finding the sudden opportunity to escape. Annoyed, Polara slammed both of his fists into Higashi's chest, "Just Die Already!"

Polara's horned head entering the danger zone of Higashi's own, he bucked forward, slamming his head into Polara's face. Reeling from the unexpected blow, Polara's hold weakened, and Higashi slammed across the side of Polara's head with a harsh elbow blow. Higashi struggled underneath the monstrous Acrosian, pulling himself free before the sudden iron grip of Polara returned, "No!" he screeched, "I'm ending this!" without warning they both shot up, the Acrosian holding Higashi overhead as they smashed back up through the layers of the complex. Higashi struggled, landing two solid blows to Polara's skull, but it was not enough. Higashi's back exploding directly through the ceiling of the sealed city, "Let's see how you like the vacuum of Space!" Polara's monstrous voice roared beneath him. They continued to rocket at a dizzying speed through the atmosphere, the ground growing distant beneath them. Higashi felt light headed, gasping for air as they passed through the thick layer of toxic smog in the sky. He gasped for air, his insides burning with a chemical taste. Desperately Higashi surrounded his neck and head with a thick mass of tendons, trying desperately to hold on to the breathable parts of the atmosphere. Higher and higher they went, Higashi fighting for every breath, until suddenly nothing. He was weightless. Polara's grip absent, he spun helplessly, fighting to breath in anything he had brought with him; to no avail. Lungs aching and starved the tendons fell. The inky blackness of space greeted him, thin pin pricks of light all before him.

"Having a little trouble?" His burning eyes snapped to the impossible voice, "Yet another reason we are superior." Polara crossed his arms self-assuredly, altered voice impossibly traveling over the thin medium of particles between them. Higashi felt like he was going to burst, lungs primed to explode, heart beating like exploding shells in his ears, eyes burning in the vacuum. "The strongest in the Galaxy!" Polara continued, "Consider it! Acrosians are born to rule this galaxy!" He floated closer to the freely spinning Human, "The Kais made the universe, They made the stars, they made the planets, and they made every living thing." Polara ceased Higashi's spinning, bringing him face to face, "Consider it! They made everything! They gifted Acrosians with the ability to breath and survive in the most wild and untamed environment in their creation!" Polara's claws dug into Higashi's chest, "We were made to rule! You were made to serve!" Higashi's vision began to tunnel, he felt like he was falling, "So be a good subject and Die Already!" Polara forcefully shoved Higashi back to the planet, rocketing with even more speed than he used when ascending, holding Higashi in front of him. They reentered the atmosphere at such a speed that Higashi instantly ignited from the friction. The shock of it forced a breath into his near unconscious body, searing his mouth and lungs with the superheated gas of his reentry. As they blew past the layer of smog hanging in the atmosphere, it ignited, a flash of heat and light across the planet. All over Strazhdannya, people looked to the sky, and for the first time in the planet's recorded history; they could see the stars.

With the impact not seen on the surface in centuries, the sealed city's walls collapsed. Rubble piled high, and some of the lower floors collapsing beneath the impact, the shining city was destroyed. Fighting at the Port ceased as the sky had ignited and impact occurred. A cautious crowd of onlookers gathered around the pit that used to be the city. A particularly brave Namekian peeked over the edge, a bolt of energy immediately pierced their green skull, and they fell dead where they stood. The crowd, shocked and panicked, backed away from the pit in horror. A monstrous figure floated up from the disaster zone. Polara barely noticed the crowd, he panted heavily from the impact, silently thankful he had shielded himself with Higashi. A rock silently whizzed its way through the air, slapping painlessly against his body. His attention attracted to the crowd, he saw a defiant looking Heran woman staring directly at him, her body still contorted in the throw. Wordlessly, he raised a single finger in front of him, a crack of black and bright pink shot from it. A thin horizontal slice of energy smashed violently into the ground, instantly eviscerating whomever was standing there, and with an effortless flick of his wrist, he carved a wiped away a chunk of the crowd in an instant.

Disbelief was visible on the survivors, as a large body of people were present one moment, and gone the next. Fear trickled through the crowd, and with a collective horror, they turned and ran. Polara thought little of this, merely preparing another bolt of scraping energy to finish the job. A sharp whistling sound caught Polara's attention for a moment, and then the sharper impact of a rock shot across his head. He whipped around, the rock coming from behind, and witnessed the impossible. "How aren't you dead?!" Polara demanded, enraged at the defiant man before him. Higashi stood arms crossed and eyes closed. Clearly injured and on the brink of death, but with a strange calm confidence he had yet to display. "You know..." he started to speak, voice lacking all anger and rage, "I was trying to figure that out myself." His eyes snapped open, burning through the darkness with a fiery red glow, "And all I could figure was..." Polara shot rapid fire bolts of energy at him, and despite not having the speed to dodge these, did regardless. "Do you know the difference between a Champion and a Contender?!" Higashi demanded, leaping powerfully through the air towards Polara.

Polara moved to intercept, flying back towards Higashi with a blow of his own. Despite his superior speed and condition, Higashi deftly navigated between it, striking a critical blow through Polara's guard, "The Weight of His Fists!" Higashi roared, Polara flying across the sky from the thunderclap of the punch.

[Ranoria]

Arashi & Hugo
Royal Palace, Central City, Kingdom of Earth, Spring 507 AU

"Uh," Arashi watched dumbfounded as Nymph darted away in cartoonish fashion, "No sweets, yeah right," he muttered to himself, "Guess nothing in particular, except for that pesky aversion to metal." His eyes shifted back to Hugo to make sure the wild child wasn't vaporizing anything yet. And to his credit, he hadn't. Instead, he was practically hanging off of one of Selene's arms, in awe of the infant child within.

Hugo gasped, bringing his hands to his cheeks, and began to bounce up and down as high as his developing legs would let him. "Hi baby!" he squealed at the top of his trajectory, then stopped and looked up at the half-Saiyan and kindly elected to inform her of the situation. "It's a baby! I love babies!"

And then, the situation took a turn for the worse. Hugo's ear-to-ear grin lapsed, and he tilted his head, giving Selene baby-doll eyes that likely would've worked on most adults, "Can I have it?"