Meeting Your Idols [inv]

Vale’s eyes closed as his grin widened, elated to hear such magnificent words coming from the Saiyan. Of course he wouldn’t care who’s talking about him and that was precisely the charm behind the man. Easy to please and not too concerned about the rest.

“Of course, of course!” he said, laughing as he talked. “I’ve met my share of violent persons across time, but you…you might be the one, yes.”

He did not expect a response from that, even less him understanding the potential meaning behind those words. He lifted his hands as the Saiyans grew closer, offering a pre-emptive surrender to the man.

“Oh come on, are you the brooding, taciturn kind of man? Lighten up a little!”

As the short version of how he came to die was pronounced, Vale was more than satisfied by the tale. A shame he wasn’t there to witness this. Great powers arose from time to time across the universe, but ones of this magnitude? Oh, they were rare. It would be a shame to let it go to waste.

“Given this, don’t be surprised you’re attracting fans all over Hell.That kind of strength could take over a quadrant of the universe, for a man who seems to enjoy fighting as you do, a shame you had to stumble on all of these roadblocks. But it begs the question…are you fine with just that? Roaming Hell aimlessly…You could…”

He stopped for a second, reconsidering his position. Holding his chin with his hand, he tapped at his lip with his index while lost in thought.

“Actually, never mind that.” He listened to the explicit threat, eyes narrowing at the sudden turn for the worse. “Are you crazy? There’s no way I’ll fight you. Given the difference in our strength, it’s like I’m staring up at the endless sky. Poetic, isn’t it? I can’t offer you much, but as a token of my gratitude, I can give you something to satiate your…”urges” for a couple of minutes.”

Vale clapped his hands, a rift tearing up space above them. From the tear a large, rotund Majin descended, it’s dark purple skin with bright pink highlights contrasting with those commonly seen on the mortal realms. There was a feeling of ancient, unbridled magic to the thing. Three large tentacle-like appendages erupted from the head, drooping in the Majin’s back like hair. Two large arms were ornate with golden arm guards and four additional arms floated around the Majin, a bit above shoulder level and they seem to protrude from some kind of spatial tear or portal.Suffice to say, the being was imposing, but it’s strength paled in comparison to the Saiyan.

“Sha, my dear friend, would you care to amuse our friend here? You have some rust to shake off yourself, don’t you?”

The Majin offered a dissatisfied look to the Shinjin.

“You’re just sending me to the chopping block.”

“Come on, don’t be like that. My power is still resting within your body.If you don’t move that fat butt of yours every now and then, there’s no way you’ll unlock it!”

“...Fine.”

“If you last five minutes, I’ll even throw in something nice.”

The Majin struck two of his fists as he looked towards the Saiyan. It would be a good learning experience, at least for Majin Sha.

“It seems we have a deal, then! Rather generous of you, I’d say. Well, dearest Sha, if you would.”

Vale hovered to a nearby rock, leaving the fearsome Saiyan to face his Majin companion. Did he have the slightest hope in toppling Lottus? He sure hoped not. After all, this story was neither about him or his companion. No, the star of the show was the one wearing the halo on this day. What’s more, he was even offering the first blow! Putting a handicap on himself like that, how delightful. Vale held back a chuckle. He knew this was a pointless offering. After all, Lottus had the power of ending it all on a whim. But him. These Saiyans…Was bloodsport the very thing that made them feel alive?

Truly…a bunch of savages. And that’s precisely why they were so cool!

“Come on, Sha! You heard the man!”

And a first blow he would deliver. Previously alone, now there were a few lost, wandering husks around them. Barely noticing the scuffle that was about to start, the thousands upon thousands of years being met with nothing but the desolate lands of Hell had probably hollowed them out.

Extending one arm over to the nearest walking zombie, Sha grabbed them by the throat and squeezed its soul out from the mouth, taking hold of it. As he brought it back to him, he then began ripping it apart and mashing it together again into a more malleable form. Stretching it into a lance, he held the white, almost ethereal weapon and launched it towards Lottus!

“Try this on for size!” The Majin shouted, eager to have his opponent get a taste of this.

Should it hit, the spear would phase through the Saiyan, just a little, before exploding. The soul, completely shattered from the resulting attack, would unleash wails and death throes as it sought to escape from Lottus’ body, causing lasting damage in turn.

The Majin waited for the dust to settle, eager to see how much damage he had caused. Meanwhile, Vale showed a frown, intrigued for a moment, after which it translated into a laugh. As the dust settled, the Saiyans was shown still standing, smoke wafting into the air coming from the palm of his hand. The mad lad had taken the attack head on. Then came the provocation. Indeed, it had merely lifted up some dust.

“Hoho, you heard that Sha? Your attack was bad.”

Quick to anger, Sha began fulminating, steam erupting out of his pores. It wasn’t everyday that some unknown guy could just come and make a fool out of him. Way back when, he was the one spreading terror across Hell!

“YOU CHEATER! YOU SAID YOU WOULD GIVE ME THE FIRST SHOT!” He roared at the Saiyan. Perhaps he did offer the first shot, but he had never mentioned anything about taking it. Vale scratched his chin.

“You have a point. Buuut, I think you got baited.”

“So did you! You told me not to pass this chance!”

Vale’s reaction switched from playfulness to complete seriousness in a matter of seconds.

“Focus on your fight.”

The Majin let out a “Tch.” before focusing his gaze back on the Saiyan who had already switched to the offensive! The first hit left a gaping hole inside the Majin’s chest. The following knee reduced the jaw to a pile of formless goo. As the massive Majin got lifted off the ground, he managed to get a hold of himself, using his demonic powers to form a shield of dark, crackling energy around him, rendering the rest of the onslaught fruitless.

He got back down, took a moment to regenerate the hole in his stomach as well as his jaw. “Bastard”, he said before resuming the offensive.

Sha sent his floating arms ahead of him, each of the four arms landing a strike in succession. Still closing in on Lottus, Sha removed his head and tossed like a bowling ball at the Saiyan, hoping to distract him enough for him to momentarily lose focus. The main body would follow and try to grab hold of the Saiyan’s hair with one arm while hitting his face with the other, sending Lottus flying away.

Following that, he would pick up his head and place it back. Vale noted how creative that doofus turned out to be.

At least, the offensive managed to keep the Saiyan occupied. Given this new body, Sha’s limits were only his imagination! Spur of the moment thinking could surprise even the most seasoned veterans and allow him to seize the advantage! His offensive working, Sha took a moment to savor his comeback on the Saiyan warrior. As far as damage went, it wasn’t a decisive blow, far from it, but it surely was a nice introduction to the pain Lottus was about to feel.

“You won’t laugh so much when you will be groveling on the ground, Saiyan.”

In his corner, Vale wasn’t looking at the fight, seemingly lost in thought. Only when Sha began talking did he look over to see he had landed something on Lottus.

“Yay! Keep at it!” He said, in a monotone voice. So long as Sha kept the Saiyan entertained long enough, he did not care as much about the outcome. Everything pointed towards Lottus winning and, in this case, the Shinjin wasn’t willing to bet on his horse.

Back to Sha, who waited for Lottus to make his move. The flurry of attacks coming straight at him. Waiting for it, Sha would simply open his arms, allowing each punch to strike his flesh, each blow pushing the flesh far back, extending and stretching it a few meters behind the Majin. Sha would close his eyes and concentrate, locking each and every one of these fleshy slingshots into place. It was only when Lottus would finish his onslaught that Sha would release them all at once, essentially hitting the Saiyan back with all the strikes he had given the Majin.

“How’s that taste, HUH?”

It wasn’t without consequence however as it did hurt the Majin in the process, but given the situation, Sha was more than willing to take that recoil. Then he would use two of his floating arms to slam Lottus’ ears, in an attempt to lock him into place and opening his mouth, he would fire a beam of energy straight at the Saiyan’s face.

“Tch.” The majin replied to the Saiyan’s provocations. He knew he was outmatched, but it was pissing him off all the same! Vale…just what was he up to? He didn’t even seem interested in the fight! Forcing Sha to do all the dirty work while he was just sitting there, casually…Well, no matter. For now, he only had to focus on Lottus.

That ki oozing from him, it felt…disgusting. Even for a former demon lord’s standards. Sha could sense the pure malice and hatred coming out of it. Just what was he supposed to do against that?

“Don’t get too cocky.”

The advantage of having a body like this was that pain was very relative. In fact, so long as he could regenerate, there wasn’t much that worried him. That’s why he wouldn’t do much against it. He placed his arms in front of him, though he didn’t actually try to defend himself. As the Saiyan closed in on him, he sent his four additional arms flying to the side, three under the ground while the other went all the way around Lottus.

First, he took the ki-charged strike head-on, the strike powerful enough to blast away his arms and send him flying with a painful groan. As he flew back, he sent his arm above ground to punch Lottus in the back of his head. That one was the decoy. The next instant, two other arms would erupt from the ground, grabbing his ankles and pulling him down into the ground as the final arm, perfectly aligned between the two, would come right up, straight at Lottus’ groin.

No matter if he succeeded or not, Sha would recall his arms at his side as he stood up, regenerating the two that were previously blown away.

“How’d you like that one?” he snickered.

All in all, Sha wasn’t doing too bad. The main problem with the Majin at this moment was that the power that Vale put in it took too long to awaken. It didn’t come as a surprise since, well, that’s what a million years of forced slumber would do to someone. Moreover, the Shinjin had to lay low for the time being. For now, his awakening was still mostly a secret aside from his fellow brothers who had also come back from imprisonment, but seeking to reignite his power so soon would only garner the wrong kind of attention. That was why he posed as an unassuming Shinjin for the moment, biding his time for the moment he could become himself once more.

The low blow came as a surprise for Vale who instinctively held his mouth with his hand to hide a chuckle. Now, that was a way to get through to the Saiyan.

“Oh my. That’s not very nice.”

Being “not nice” was very on brand for the both of them and as such, the Shinjin could only commend Sha for his actions. As far as he was concerned, Sha was more than ecstatic to see the Saiyan fall to his knee for the first time in this bout. This ought to give him some sense of humility, right?

“Bwahahaha! What’s that? Me, regret it? Bah! Did you expect me to play fair? We’re in Hell, buddy! Anything goes…”

Indeed, nothing was off-limits and this went both ways. Vale thought to himself that Sha better not get too bold with his provocations if he wanted to last in this fight.

The Majin resumed the charge, pressuring Lottus before he could fully recover from the stinging shock. He would fire a series of pink-colored ki blasts at the Saiyan, all aimed at his face before going for a lariat with his other arm.