The Last Stand (Split)

It saddened Nero to see Marimba unknowingly strain his body like this; it very obviously clouded his judgement, and it likely wasn’t a pleasant experience alongside his own rattled emotional state. Indeed, none had chosen to strike him, it was Marimba himself that chose to strike first— and from Nero’s perspective, the Namekian had struck against himself by welcoming a force into his body that he clearly could not control before he attacked Nasu.

“Are you sure? You seem plenty blinded by rage regardless of it being your own or not.” Nero responded, facing Marimba. “You and Ticoga are far more alike than either of you care to realize or admit. The both of you care deeply for your people, though there is one important difference here. His wrath is surgical whereas your temper is far too explosive. His targets were two clearly malicious men until you fucked it up, and here yours is an entire world, home to countless beings. This isn’t an eye for an eye, this isn’t an act of defense, it’s an act aggression.” Nero sighed and shook his head. “If you trust Gira so much, if she is no pawn to you... Then why didn’t you tell her anything about this, hm? I know why. Because it scares you, doesn’t it? You know she wouldn’t let you do this either.”

Nero also looked to Cello as he continued, speaking to both Namekians at this point. “A pirate that has assaulted Namek multiple times and a maniacal racist bigot don’t exactly sound like the best people to pal around with, you know, but good luck with that. Still, I can’t speak for any Imperials, Novas or even Derry for that matter— but myself, Zhalla, Nasu and Russ have no intention of harming anyone that chooses to actively flee, nor let them be harmed unless given reason to act otherwise, so don’t give us any.”

Now, Nero faced Cello entirely, and despite the gravity of the situation he gave a slight smile, recognizing the resolution within the Namekian that was not carried by violence. “Sorry, but it’s like you said. Sometimes peace must be fought for.” With that, Nero had to rush truly off as well now, and since nobody had actually got in his way he was free to do so!

---

Flying through the streets, Nero noticed the arrival of the Empire’s battalions of defending soldiers— those new Sentinels among them as well; and their targets were fleeing Mazoku. Similarly to Marimba, he chose to briefly intervene; though said interference was defensive in nature; the Guru summoned his magical prowess and guided it around to protect the Mazoku that were well and truly fleeing, be it by Marimba’s command or otherwise.

Much like the portly Namekian, Nero also wanted to do more for them, but there was a larger threat and pressing matter to deal with. The Tuffle, Sen. He who had now drawn upon himself the wrath of two Saiyan parents.

Nero had arrived shortly after Zhalla, seeing the man hacking and spluttering after getting a taste of his own vile weaponized Destron. Deserved comeuppance, but even Nero thought it was not enough. The Tuffle was not done paying for his sins, be they known to Nero or not. Zhalla put it quite well herself too. Currently, Plant was a pretty miserable planet, but that was only because of the worst both Saiyans and Tuffles. Now it was up to the best of them to fix it, but this cyborg wasn’t one of them.

To the oncoming flames, it seemed as though Nero didn’t care to react; but his aura had pulsated outward, dividing the flames and extinguishing them in seconds. “You’ve got it backwards, half-flesh. It was he who failed to do away with you. Now I’m going to clean up his mess.” In the blink of an eye, Nero appeared right in front of the Tuffle, with fierce power still radiating through his aura. “As far as I’m concerned, you are the reason we’re even here. You lit the flame of this conflict, and now you will pay for it. You will no longer drag the intellect of the Tuffles down with your presence. You will never be anywhere near my planet, my friends and family, or my son ever again.”

Twisting Ticoga’s authority was enough to earn a beating, assaulting the coronation with intent to conquer was enough to earn a visceral wound, the massacre of Cornet village or perhaps countless others was enough to earn death.

Then on top of all of that, Sen threatened Nero’s own son with the foulest concoction to ever stain the universe? That would earn something beyond death— annihilation of this disgusting man’s very soul. “Begone.” Nero then suddenly swung a glistening punch with all of the remaining energy that he had focused into it seemingly heading towards where Sen’s heart would be— yet he aimed not for Sen’s physical body, but the very essence of his being— the core concept of the man— while also calling upon the combined pain and suffering Sen had inflicted on countless others all at once, Nero wanted to make all of that sorrow Sen’s curse to bare forevermore, even if in the physical world it was merely seconds. A fitting punishment in Nero’s eyes.

“And stay gone.”