William stood opposed to the two remaining Viltrumites, his Super Saiyan 2 aura flaring madly, a corona of golden and red energy crackling around him like a storm of raw power. His piercing gaze locked onto the two warriors, daring them to make a move, his expression one of absolute dominance. The ground beneath him trembled, unable to withstand the sheer force radiating from his body.
Lucan, as a true Viltrumite, a warrior bred for conquest, would not allow himself to be cowed by anyone, no matter how monstrous their power felt. With a snarl, he rocketed forward, vanishing from sight in an instant. A sonic boom echoed in his wake as he crossed the distance between them at speeds beyond human comprehension. In the blink of an eye, his fist was inches from William's face and stopped dead in its tracks.
Lucan's eyes widened in disbelief. His entire arm refused to move forward. He strained, muscles bulging, veins visible even beneath his battle-worn uniform. Then he felt it. A crushing force wrapped around his wrist, immobilizing him. Lucan looked down and saw William's hand gripping his forearm, his fingers tightening like a vice.
Cold sweat dripped down Lucan's brow as realization dawned. He had made a terrible mistake.
Before he could even react, William moved.
With a twist of his wrist, William wrenched Lucan's arm downward. His own body followed with terrifying speed, his knee cocking back while his elbow rose high above. Then, in a single devastating motion—
"CRACK!"
Lucan's arm snapped in two places. The sickening sound of shattering bone echoed across the battlefield.
A split-second of silence hung in the air before the pain registered in Lucan's mind. His face contorted in agony as a scream tore from his throat. "AAAAHHHHHHHH!" He stumbled back, clutching the mangled remains of his arm, his breath coming in ragged gasps. "You… You bastard!" His voice dripped with both fury and desperation.
Driven by rage, Lucan lashed out with his remaining good arm, aiming a wild punch at William's face. But William was ready. As the fist hurtled toward him, he reached out, caught it midair, and locked his grip around it just as effortlessly as before.
Lucan's breath hitched. His body tensed as he realized what was about to happen. He struggled, his wings flaring as he attempted to break free. But William's grip was like iron, unyielding, inevitable.
William smirked. "Looks like you're all alone now."
He raised his free hand, fingers straightened like a blade. "WENG!" A blade of golden-red energy erupted from his aura, extending outward like an executioner's sword. The raw power hummed violently, distorting the air around it.
Lucan thrashed wildly, panic overtaking him. He jerked back, flapping his wings, twisting his body in every direction, but no matter how hard he struggled, he couldn't break free.
William lifted the blade high, ready to bring it down.
Then—
A sound unlike any other split the sky.
"BOOOOOM!"
William barely had time to react. A force slammed into his ribs with such unimaginable power that his entire frame bent inward. The world blurred as he was sent hurtling through the sky.
Nolan.
The Viltrumite warrior had vanished before, only to return in a flash, moving so fast that even William had barely registered the attack before it landed. As William rocketed backward, Nolan didn't let up. His fists became a flurry, each punch striking with bone-crushing force. Each impact was like a detonation, shockwaves rolling outward with every hit.
And then, with a final push, Nolan changed direction slightly, aiming for the planet below. The air around them ignited, the sheer velocity turning them into a burning comet descending toward the surface. William, wreathed in golden-red flames and friction fire, was driven downward at speeds that made the sky itself tremble.
"WHHOOOOOOOOOSHHHHH!"
The ground rushed toward them at breakneck speed. And then—
"BOOOOOOOOM!"
Impact.
A crater the size of a city erupted beneath them. The force of the collision sent buildings toppling like dominoes. The earth itself buckled, sending shockwaves rippling outward. Lava pockets beneath the surface, disturbed by the sheer force of the crash, exploded into the sky, turning the horizon into a hellscape of fire and molten rock.
Meanwhile, outside the battlefield, the Guardians of the Globe struggled against an unseen force.
They had thrown everything they had at the massive barrier sealing off the battlefield. Energy blasts, brute strength, cutting-edge weaponry, nothing even scratched it.
"What the hell is this thing?" Cecil muttered, pressing his palm against the glowing green construct.
Then, a shadow fell over them.
Cecil and the Guardians turned their heads skyward, and their blood ran cold.
A trio of Viltrumites descended from the heavens. They were unmistakable, each one radiated raw, oppressive power. The leader, a towering, muscle-bound warrior with a thick white mustache and a presence that felt almost godlike, led the descent. Thragg. Beside him, a grinning brute of a man, Conquest, cracked his knuckles in anticipation. The third, a slender Viltrumite with a single eye and an aristocratic air, Krieg, held a scanning device that beeped rapidly as they neared the barrier.
At their command, enslaved alien soldiers moved in, subduing any resistance with ruthless efficiency. The Guardians fought back, but against advanced technology and superior physiology, they were quickly overwhelmed. Before long, they were taken aboard the Viltrumite ship as prisoners.
Thragg, Krieg, and Conquest approached the green construct sealing the portal.
Krieg ran a hand over the surface. "Fascinating. It's resilient, but if enough force is applied, it should yield."
Conquest's grin widened. "Good. I was getting bored."
He stepped forward, rolling his massive shoulders. His lips curled into a cruel smirk as he reared his fist back. "Let's make this quick. I've got a young strumpet waiting for me, and I've yet to soil her to my heart's content."
A chill ran through the air.
Thragg's gaze flickered toward Conquest, cold and deadly. The air itself grew heavy. Conquest immediately straightened, sensing the unspoken warning. He gave a slight chuckle, rolling his wrist before focusing back on the barrier.
Then, he struck.
The blow landed with apocalyptic force.
"BOOOOOOM!"
A shockwave erupted outward. The force shattered nearby structures, turned glass into dust, and sent debris flying in every direction. The impact left a deep, fist-shaped divot in the barrier.
But it did not break.
Conquest blinked.
His smirk faded slightly.
He stepped back, flexing his fingers. Then, with a gleam of anticipation in his eyes, he pulled his fist back again.
This time, he would hit harder.
And this time, the barrier would break.
Back on the Flaxan side of the portal, William lay buried under several tons of the planet's dense, jagged terrain, pressed down relentlessly by Nolan's full-powered assault. Every inch of the ground around him had been compacted into a crater from the sheer force exerted upon him.
Then, in an instant, a visceral alarm shot through Nolan's body, a warning honed by two thousand years of battle experience. His instincts screamed—MOVE. He obeyed without hesitation, vanishing from the crater's edge so fast that he left a sonic boom in his wake. Within moments, he was in the lower atmosphere, scanning the scene below with narrowed eyes.
"WHOOOSH!" Twin beams of golden energy laced with an unusually dense, ominous red hue erupted from the planet's surface. Nolan's breath caught as he watched them abruptly alter their trajectory mid-flight, bending unnaturally toward him like hunting hounds locking onto their prey.
His eyes widened.
The beams were homing in.
Without a second thought, Nolan bolted, shooting through the sky at breakneck speed. He didn't bother avoiding structures, mountains crumbled, buildings collapsed in his wake as he pushed his velocity to its peak. A comet of white and red streaked across the heavens, the relentless beams in pursuit, unwavering in their chase.
Meanwhile, on the battlefield below, Lucan winced as he slathered a thick, viscous recovery gel onto his mangled arm. The alchemical compound reacted instantly, his shattered bones and torn flesh shifting back into place with sickening crunches. He grit his teeth, each snap of realignment sending searing pain through his body. He lay still, enduring it, his mind fogged with the agony of regeneration.
Then, his eyes flicked upward, and what he saw sent a cold wave of shock through his body.
Nolan was still evading the beams, his maneuvers becoming increasingly desperate. If he was struggling, that meant—
Lucan exhaled sharply, the pain momentarily forgotten as he surged into the sky. His wounds were fresh, his body weak, but he had to act. Wings of raw energy flared around him as he pushed himself to catch up. Above him, Nolan twisted and turned in a frenzied aerial dance, the beams snarling after him like spectral hounds that refused to be outrun.
Finally, Nolan came to a brutal conclusion: he couldn't outrun them forever.
With no other option, he turned sharply mid-flight, spinning to face the incoming assault. His fists clenched, muscles tensed, and then—
"BOOOOOOM!"
The impact was cataclysmic.
The twin beams collided with his raised arms, detonating in an explosion so fierce that it obliterated the thick cloud cover above. The force vaporized the lingering volcanic ash in the atmosphere and sent a shockwave cascading downward, flattening an entire cityscape to its plumbing. The very bones of the planet seemed to shake under the sheer magnitude of the blast.
Lucan barely made out Nolan's form plummeting from the sky. He had been thrown, his body limp, spiraling downward like a broken marionette.
"Dammit!" Lucan snarled, adjusting his flight path to intercept. He caught Nolan just as he lost consciousness, clutching his leader's battered form in his arms.
"CRACK!"
Elsewhere, the barrier guarding the portal was under relentless assault. Conquest, his form a blur of motion, rained down blows so fast they seemed to overlap, a living battering ram against the forcefield. The cracks spread wider, veins of splintering energy webbing through the structure as it fought a losing battle against sheer brutality.
Then, an imposing presence loomed behind him. A massive hand clamped onto Conquest's shoulder.
Thragg.
Behind him, twenty elite Viltrumites hovered in disciplined silence, awaiting orders. Beyond them, over four hundred conscripts, enslaved alien warriors clad in heavy power armor, floated in rigid formation, their weapons primed for the assault.
Thragg stepped forward, his regal expression unreadable. He lifted a single fist and took in a slow breath.
"SIGH."
With surgical precision, he lashed out, a one-inch punch.
"SHATTER!"
The barrier didn't simply break. It disintegrated. The energy construct fractured into a million glittering motes, vanishing as if it had never been. A stunned silence followed.
The assembled Viltrumites stared in awe at their regent's effortless display of power.
Thragg didn't hesitate. He gestured forward. "Go."
As one, the Viltrumites and their conscripts saluted and surged through the portal, vanishing into the breach. Thragg lingered only a moment, arms crossed, observing the last of his forces disappear into the abyss.
A smirk ghosted his lips.
"Time to unleash hell," he murmured before stepping into the portal himself. As soon as he vanished, the gate flickered and snapped shut, sealing the connection.
Back on the Flaxan side, Lucan felt Nolan shift in his arms. The older Viltrumite groaned, eyes fluttering open.
"What… happened?" Nolan muttered, his voice hoarse. Then, the memory hit him. His eyes widened in shock.
Before he could say anything else, the ground beneath them began to tremble.
"RUMBLE!"
A violent quake shook the battlefield. In the center of the impact crater, where Nolan had driven William into the planet like a meteor, the earth split and fractured further, jagged fault lines spreading outward like a spiderweb. Something was rising.
Then, the air stilled.
Everything, the howling winds, the swirling ash, the very pulse of the planet, went silent.
A deep golden aura erupted from the abyss, thick tendrils of raw energy spilling into the atmosphere, interlaced with a seething, bloody red hue. The very sight of it sent a primal, instinctive dread creeping up Nolan and Lucan's spines.
Then, he rose.
William.
His form levitated from the ruined pit, his arms slack at his sides, his expression unreadable. But his eyes...
His eyes burned with absolute disdain.
He met Nolan's gaze. And then—
"Kaio-Ken… times four."
Darkness descended. The very light of the world seemed to bend, drawn toward him as though reality itself feared his presence. Then—
"BOOOOOOOM!"
A cataclysmic explosion tore through the battlefield. William's aura ignited in a wildfire of furious crimson, his golden Super Saiyan locks tainted deep red to match. The sheer force of his transformation destabilized the planet's magnetic field, sending rippling arcs of energy tearing through the sky. The ground split, molten fissures bleeding through the cracks.
The detonation was so overwhelming that its force passed through the crust of the Flaxan world, triggering seismic shifts deep within its core.
Nolan and Lucan barely had time to react. The wave of sheer energy slammed into them, forcing them to brace mid-air, their bodies rattling under the pressure. Their flight destabilized, their forms shaken.
William hovered, his expression cold. His very presence exuded an unyielding, oppressive weight.
A predator had entered the battlefield.
And the hunt had begun.