Sparking Chapter 1: Contests & Conquests

Only four days later, Taori decided to do what Rosemary never did and Yangcong always failed to: end the war.


With hundreds of Saiyan soldiers, he marched upon Hatchi City with a simple ultimatum: surrender or face the full might of the Vegetan army. Ward promised to defend the King from harm, hoping that this act would finally bring peace to the planet; Zuqetta Dreadwyrm, a young Saiyan warrior, refused to bow to her King; K414 appeared to reprimand her for her recklessness, whilst Zerori and Zriacha stood against Taori. Cheri, now the Chancellor of the Tuffles, would never surrender; a maniacal, bloodthirsty biodroid known as Virus hungered for the flesh of Zuquetta and Zerori; Blizzard, Zuqetta's Acrosian tutor, descended with his fleet to fight the Saiyans; a blue Majin called Liari refused to let the Saiyans wipe out the Tuffles.

Having waited for this day ever since Taori became King, Azoth arrived to reinforce the Tuffles; Ise was not far behind, standing alongside the Saiyan King while flabbergasted to see Zerori aiding the Tuffles; an android named Curie began to rob the Tuffles blind whilst Korado scoured for her in the city; the half-Saiyan Dark looked to fulfill his revenge against Liari; a loyal Saiyan named Clove was ready to lay down the line for his people. Some faces were fresh while others familiar. Surprising reunions and inevitable rivalries. Fledging powers and titanic might. The War's End...

Blizzard fled quickly, so discontent with Azoth's order to not kill that he decided to defend the city's outskirts; Azoth and K414 faced off in a duel fated since the Budokai. and though Azoth intended to spare them, the Android--perhaps out of sheer spite--exploded into wires and circuitry upon the Acrosian's last blow. Taori not only witnessed this in person but received an unfortunate message: not only did Azoth seemingly betray him, but unleashed an Acrosian force that massacred some of his friend, giving Taori motivation to kill Azoth. Ise attempts to talk casually with Zerori and Zuqetta whilst Virus dives in headfirst, though Ise manages to convince him to leave. Zuqetta leaves the battle, disillusioned and distraught from Azoth being in danger, her own temperament, and her seeming inability to change anything for the better; Zerori left as she did, recognizing the war as won the moment Azoth fell. Liari too left, utterly enraged by what felt like an inability to do anything good: be it the Tuffles or the Saibamen, she could never protect anyone, and she would always be hated for trying. Cheri stood valiantly, fighting head on with the Saiyan King, Clove, Dark and Ward, but she could not bring herself to die for a hopeless battle. To preserve the lives of her people, Cheri makes her surrender dramatic; it works well-enough to appease the Saiyan's bloodlust. And with that, the Saiyan-Tuffle war was over.

Concurrent to all of this, Blizzard attacked the Saiyan Palace as part of a plot from the Acrosian Mint, who wanted to rule Acrose instead of the soft-hearted Icepeak; the plan was to cause as much havoc as possible, then to blame it on the (then-preoccupied) Azoth. Assigned to protect the city was Vocado and he was backed up by the unscrupulous, six-armed Azuki and a Demonic assassin named Sesame. Though the trio held Blizzard off, Azuki changed allegiance, landing a terrible blow on Vocado with Sesame not caring enough to intervene--Azuki's true goal was to overthrow the gods, and helping Blizzard seemed to aid that goal. As a result, Blizzard's mission is complete--except Azuki, wanting to sway the battle even further, directly showed the results of the attack to Taori--the message that led to Azoth's demise!

A month later, Kon--now in the Dirty Snake's payroll again--took on a mission to destroy the moon. A hungry and near mindless Virus arrived, ready to soak himself in blood; a Saiyan named Kombu wondered what she was doing; the oddball Shinjin Kowlin seemed to support Kon seemingly only to mock Kombu; the parasite-possessed Tarine arrives, terrified due to his former encounter with Virus. Tarine's fears are quickly vindicated as he is brutally stabbed by the Biodroid; Kombu falls not too long after, leaving the moon undefended; at last, Kowlin and Kon finish off the killer Virus. In the midst of the battle, Kon completely sheds her persona of, well, Kon, fully referring to herself as Dai. And though she felt empty, the mission was complete.

Azuki returns to earth, eager to continue her quest. After a painful conversation with the human woman Jackie, a close friend of hers, Azuki gives up control to the demon possessing her! The creature, hellbent of ridding Earth of godly corruption by destroying the Lookout Tower, decides to try and destroy the Lookout Tower and kill the then unrevealed Kami of Earth--Jackie! Blizzard, indebted to Azuki due to her actions on Plant, agrees to help her; Jackie, meanwhile, calls out to her earthling friends Russ, the human Terryn and Fend, with only the former two arriving to help. Russ gets skewered by the Acrosian, virtually dying in front of his friends; with Terryn fleeing with Russ's body in a desperate attempt to find help, Jackie defends the Lookout to her last breath...but fails. As the tower is destroyed, Azuki wounds Jackie in a way she would never forget--by taking Jackie's voice.

Ten days later, Dai and Kowlin launched an attack on the castle of Earth's President--Derry, who was still, secretly, the leader of the Dirty Snakes! By this point, Dai had virtually no memories or purpose beyond knowing vaguely it was Derry's fault, and Kowlin was content with helping her enact revenge. The superhero Majin Annie arrived to stop them from killing the President, alongside Erebos and an Amara who had been revived basically seconds ago. A mad and enigmatic pair of Oni burst in shortly after; a witch named Celeste, attempting to destroy Kowlin and Tsuya Kusanagi, a cross between a demon , human (Griseya)  and ancient spirit sealed in a blade (Usidimori), aiming her blade at Celeste. And to round out the brawl came Rinako, a demonic Kitsune who only wished to stop Celeste and Kowlin from killing each other.

The ensuing battle was a chaotic mad-house, blows being traded across and beyond the castle. After apologizing to Derry for a huge hole she made in the castle, Annie retreated to help civilians flee; in a fit of intense rage, Amara kills Kowlin, but the Shinjin has the last laugh; a pebble he'd thrown at the beginning of the fight landed right on Amara's head as he burned away, a life lived abandoning godhood to help others. Dai had almost zero care for Kowlin beyond a tool, yet with him gone she had nothing; in a complete breakdown of sanity, her final attack manages to severely injure Amara, nearly sending her back to the Afterlife as quickly as she left it. While not having concrete proof of Derry's true activities, a gut feeling told the demon that he was as bad as the Shinjin; ever the chaotic hothead, the demon stopped Derry from leaving and defeated him in a one versus one, slicing off the President's arm before running away the victor. The demonic trio of Tsuya, Rinako and Celeste nearly battle one and other to the death, yet in the middle of a fight Rinako-wanting to rid of annoyances yet unsure of her ability to finish either magician off-offered a truce; stop fighting now so that Usidimori could kill Celeste in three months. With the other Oni accepting of the deal, the three demons depart the Castle alive, bringing an end to a year of Contests and Conquests...