The fight between Lazuli and Gora became much more intense when the demon broke free from the blonde's attacks. He ignited his power, causing a shockwave that knocked the girl away.
Though he was covered in wounds, he didn't seem to feel them. With a serious face and red eyes, he focused on Lazuli, who had recovered from Gora's surprise attack. The demon had chosen the perfect moment for his attack, interrupting the flow of Lazuli's strikes.
"It seems that the weapon in your hand can no longer withstand your strength," said Gora, noticing how Lazuli's sword turned into incandescent slag and fell to the ground.
"I don't need weapons," Lazuli said as she let go of the handle of the melted sword and removed her shield because she didn't find it useful. She had only been playing along with Bulma, but that didn't mean she would hinder herself.
They both knew the fight was about to end. Lazuli concentrated a large amount of ki in her right hand, resulting in an intense flow of electricity.
Gora's sword was covered in dense demonic power, emitting an ominous pink glow. His stance indicated that he was about to deliver a vertical slash.
"Demon Slash!"
"Thunder Cannon!"
With a cry, Lazuli launched a sphere of electric rays, which shot through the air at high speed and caused the air to smell strange due to the ozone.
Gora, on the other hand, brought his sword down in a powerful vertical slash, putting all his energy and demonic power into the attack. The attack took the form of a flying, crescent-shaped cut that collided directly with the electric ball Lazuli had launched.
The energy attacks collided midway, causing a shockwave from the impact. The ground cracked beneath them, and sparks flew from both attacks, splattering the ground.
However, it had been clear from the beginning that Lazuli was stronger than Gora. The ball of lightning she launched gradually prevailed against the flying slash the demon launched, pushing it back until it shattered completely.
Lazuli's attack continued on its path and completely impacted Gora's body. Intense electricity coursed through his entire body, causing him to tremble and experience excruciating pain.
Perhaps due to the cramp caused by the electricity or his determination as a warrior, Gora never let go of his sword. He held it steady even though the hilt was melting in his palm due to the intense heat.
His clothes were singed, adding to the burn damage his body suffered. Yet, his bloodshot eyes continued to stare at Lazuli until his Ki began to wane.
Gora fell to the ground, unconscious. His demonic physiology allowed him to survive the devastating attack. However, Lazuli had no desire to finish the job because this demon did not seem to die, unlike other enemies.
Why would she kill just for the sake of killing? She sensed that Gora's attack, though powerful, was not truly deadly; it was as if he wanted to incapacitate her rather than kill her.
What could that mean? At the time, Lazuli did not fully understand, but she knew she needed to save him. However, she did not know how to heal him. Fortunately, she knew someone with healing abilities.
Lazuli looked over at Bulma, who was sitting in the treetops next to Mera. The demon girl seemed to be telling Bulma something. When the blonde approached, Lazuli could hear part of their conversation.
"... so, all the demons in his castle accept his supposed 'philosophy' of what real demons are. If you want to destroy a place, you can choose that one," Mera said, causing Bulma's eyes to sparkle with interest.
"A group of demons split into two ideological factions? That would make an excellent novel plot! Maybe Tights could write something about that..." Bulma muttered, then focused her eyes on Lazuli.
"Can you heal that guy? He doesn't seem like a bad person." Lazuli pointed to the unconscious Gora, making Bulma smile.
"Oh, sure. My healing abilities have been improving lately. I can even do it from a distance," Bulma replied, patting her chest as if taking on an important mission.
Bulma pointed at Gora with her right hand, and a hint of white energy began to emerge from her palm. It was very different from the usual purple Ki she constantly used.
She could control the color of her energy. To anyone else, this would be an insignificant detail, but Bulma, someone educated to have excellent aesthetics, decided to give her Ki a white color when using her healing arts.
She would have chosen green, but it didn't suit her. Besides, white also meant healing. She shot a small white sphere at the demon, covering his body in an instant.
Under the gaze of the three women, the burns and wounds on Gora's body began to heal. Soon, except for his burned clothes, the demon returned to optimal visual condition. Even his energy signature seemed to recover a little, although he was still unconscious.
"Okay, now this mage is about to put on a big show. You said there are no innocents, right?" Bulma looked at Mera, who was standing next to her. For some reason, the demon woman found the smile on the human's face extremely terrifying.
'I don't know what this human will do, but it seems unfortunate for demons that she's powerful and crazy,' Mera thought. She nodded in response to Bulma's question and began to laugh 'evilly.'
Lazuli climbed up the tree and hit Bulma on the head to calm her down. This caused Bulma to stop laughing. However, the blonde noticed a strange gleam in the blue-haired girl's eyes and knew that something terrible was about to happen to those poor demons.
...
A few minutes earlier, Sura had begun to feel uneasy. He didn't know where this terrifying feeling of imminent death was coming from. The threat bothered him so much that he couldn't concentrate on the report one of his henchmen was giving him.
Not even the fact that the follower's words were about a potential wife made him stop feeling that annoying sensation. The sensation was making Sura increasingly stressed, and the energy in his body was unleashing itself uncontrollably.
The men surrounding Sura moved away from him, not wanting to get caught up in the energy of their supposed and self-proclaimed 'King.' Although he wasn't a king, he was the strongest in this small dimension adjacent to Earth, so no one dared to complain about him.
"Is something wrong, Your Majesty?" a demon asked, causing Sura to try to contain his energy as he realized he was ruining his castle, specifically his throne.
"Has something serious happened in the human world? Where is Mera? Wasn't she the spy we sent to Earth? Bring her here now!" Despite his orders and anger, no one came, and no one could find Mera.
Just as Sura was about to complain some more, he and the other demons felt a powerful energy coming from a distance. Above all, it seemed to be the source of the threat he had sensed for some time.
The demons in the castle approached the windows facing the direction from which the enormous sign of power was coming, but despite everything, they could only see a small bright spot in the distance.
Bulma had just entered this dimension without leaving the door to this place too far behind. The bright spot these demons saw was a sphere of energy she had been creating.
Bulma raised her arms and opened her palms, guiding her Ki several meters away from her body. A purple sphere of energy emerged and began to grow larger as she put more power into the attack.
The heat of Bulma's ki caused Lazuli and Mera to step back and keep their distance. Gora, who had recently awakened due to the danger Bulma posed, stood paralyzed as he watched the ball of energy grow.
"Bulma... is that necessary?" Lazuli asked, amazed by the power the blue-haired girl was unleashing.
Bulma's hair blew wildly due to the purple aura covering her body, but she wasn't wasting energy. She had a special technique to prevent that. She had simply done it to make her wizard's robe flutter in the wind to appear more impressive.
"Of course! When you're going to destroy an enemy, why limit yourself to just fists or energy attacks? The best thing is to unleash a huge explosion with a large sphere of ki!" That's what space dictators do," Bulma declared with a big smile, knowing her actions were justified.
There was no one innocent in Sura's castle at that moment. Bulma's Ki perception detected an extremely cold and bloody energy signature, especially from Sura.
"Maybe that's why he has that name. How much evil and killing must a person do to have their Ki stained like that? You don't deserve for me to hold back. I'll unleash my strongest attack yet," Bulma thought. She blocked Sura's Ki at a distance when she felt the energy was strong enough.
"As a mage, it's time to cast my spell." Bulma narrowed her eyes and pointed her index finger at the castle in the distance.
"I cast... Nuke!" Bulma shouted. The huge sphere of ki above her head flew toward its target.
From the demons' point of view, the strange bright spot they had seen before grew larger and larger in their field of vision. They felt the heavy breath of death.
"Damn it, run!" one of the demons shouted, trying to flee. Others of his kind imitated his action, except for Sura.
"Finally, you show up!" Sura exclaimed, feeling slightly relaxed despite everything. After all, facing the danger was better than suffering mentally from the imminent sense of threat.
Trusting in his power, Sura flew through the window and stood in front of his castle. Demonic energy swirled around his body. His muscles bulged, his height increased, and horns sprouted from his head. It was a truly interesting transformation.
What he didn't expect was that despite the size of the Ki ball, Bulma had compressed its power, so when Sura launched an energy beam to slow down the attack, it had no effect.
Sura's attack simply collided with the purple Ki sphere, which continued to advance unperturbed. At that moment, the demon's previous despair resurfaced, and he realized that his end was near.
He could feel it. He couldn't escape like the rest. His ki had been blocked by an unknown attacker who didn't hide his actions, exerting psychological pressure on the demon at every moment, even at the end of his life.
Bulma's attack struck Sura, whose body couldn't withstand the high concentration of Ki, and he simply vanished. The energy ball continued on its path, crashing into the castle.
Then, it exploded. Purple energy was released with force, sweeping away everything in its path. No one could resist; no one escaped, not even the demons who had tried to flee at first.
In the distance, the three women and Gora saw a huge purple dome, staining the entire sky. Shortly thereafter, a hot shockwave hit them, but their amazement did not diminish.
Even Bulma was amazed by her incredible power. Then she focused on her enemies' signals in case any of them had escaped. But there was nothing except her remaining energy in the area of the attack. Everything had fallen silent.
"I can't do something like that on Earth," Bulma muttered. She knew her attack was devastating and that, if unleashed on a city, it would reduce it to nothing.
She didn't yet have the power to destroy everything with two fingers like a certain bald Saiyan. However, due to her understanding of Ki, she managed to create unparalleled devastation.
"Yeah... don't tell Goku this"