"Phew…"
With a long exhale, Uchiha Hikari's eyes glowed a brilliant red, a ring of dark crimson flames flickering around her.
—Susanoo!
In truth, Uchiha Hikari felt she could probably break free from General Blue's superpower using just her chakra and "ki" alone, but she didn't feel like bothering with the effort. Instead, she stood her ground and activated her Sharingan's eye technique.
The moment the skeletal giant appeared, faint sounds rippled through the air, like invisible ropes being pulled taut, groaning under the strain as if they might snap at any second.
"Hm?"
General Blue seemed to sense something was off.
But in the next instant, Uchiha Hikari calmly raised her head, locking eyes with him. The pinwheel pattern in her eyes spun gently.
"Tsukuyomi!"
Their gazes met.
General Blue's expression went blank, his carefully maintained superpower faltering.
In that split second, Esdeath exhaled sharply, tearing through the invisible ropes in the air. With a powerful step, she launched herself at General Blue like an arrow loosed from a bow. In one swift motion, she ripped his arm clean off!
Blood sprayed everywhere!
"Argh! My arm…!"
General Blue screamed, instinctively trying to clutch his wound, but Esdeath gave him no time to recover. She skidded to a halt, twisted her body, and leaped into a spinning aerial kick, sending General Blue flying!
Boom!
His body shot out nearly a hundred meters, crashing through several thick trees before tumbling into a crater, barely clinging to life.
Only then did the blood from his severed arm finally splatter onto the ground, staining the area beneath Esdeath's feet a dark red.
"…Huh? His physical skills are that weak?"
Esdeath was a bit stunned.
Unaware of the difference between superpowers and "ki," she had assumed General Blue would have moves akin to Master Roshi's Kamehameha, picturing him as a worthy opponent on Roshi's level. To end the fight in just a few moves left her a little disappointed.
Uchiha Hikari, on the other hand, wasn't surprised at all. She blinked, subtly dismissing her Susanoo without a word.
Then she glanced toward a nearby thicket.
—Out of caution, she had left a shadow clone hiding in the shadows, ready to step in if things went south. But it seemed that precaution was unnecessary.
Meanwhile, Esdeath confirmed General Blue's defeat and raised her right hand, snapping her fingers.
With that gesture, the surrounding blizzard intensified, the temperature plummeting further from an already freezing minus tens of degrees. In such brutal cold, even the few Red Ribbon Army officers who hadn't frozen stiff felt the biting chill. Some tried to beg for mercy, while others mustered their last strength to charge at Esdeath in a desperate final stand.
Thud! Thud!
Esdeath met them head-on, throwing punches and kicks.
None of the remaining officers could withstand more than two of her attacks. Those sent flying froze solid in midair, and upon hitting the ground, they shattered with a crack into countless icy fragments scattered into the air.
This bloodless, corpse-free method of killing left the remaining Red Ribbon soldiers trembling in fear.
Losing the will to fight, they were engulfed by the white blizzard, their body heat rapidly draining until they became ice sculptures, their faces frozen in terror.
"…It's over."
Esdeath surveyed the area, confirming no one was left standing, then waved her hand and turned back to Uchiha Hikari.
From the moment Uchiha Hikari and Esdeath burst out of the forest, clashing with the Red Ribbon Army's armored forces, to the complete annihilation of the enemy…
The entire battle lasted a mere twenty minutes.
At this point, the Red Ribbon Army base, both inside and out, along with the surrounding kilometers of forest, was blanketed in a layer of ice. Aside from Uchiha Hikari and Esdeath, not a single other person's breath could be heard. Even the birds in the forest were either frozen solid on the branches or had long fled to safety.
"By the way… I don't see Tao Pai Pai among this bunch, do I?"
Uchiha Hikari scanned the ice sculptures carefully but didn't spot anyone in a pink tunic with a long braid tied behind their head.
She pondered for a moment before realizing—
Tao Pai Pai and the Red Ribbon Army weren't in a superior-subordinate relationship but a simple mercenary arrangement.
The Red Ribbon Army paid, and Tao Pai Pai killed.
In the original story, the Red Ribbon Army only hired Tao Pai Pai after Goku defeated several of their officers and took down the Muscle Tower stronghold. While Uchiha Hikari and Esdeath had done something similar, their actions were so swift that Commander Red probably hadn't yet thought to call him.
Of course…
It wasn't out of the question that Tao Pai Pai had already gotten the call and was on his way, riding his pillar.
But if that were the case, all the better. Esdeath was still itching for a real fight, and Tao Pai Pai would make the perfect sparring partner to satisfy her.
"Let's go check inside."
Uchiha Hikari leaped lightly, flying into the castle's interior and searching through the corridors layer by layer.
The castle complex was massive, spanning over a dozen floors with thousands of rooms, covering tens of thousands of square meters.
Like the outside, the interior was invaded by the blizzard, with floors and walls coated in a thin layer of ice, making them slippery. Uchiha Hikari opted to use her Flying Thunder God technique, gliding through the air as she ascended the stairs to the top floor, stopping in front of an office with a "Commander" nameplate.
"Tch, tch…"
"These guys sure are loaded. Wonder how many people they extorted to get all this."
Speaking of which…
The Earth in the Dragon Ball world wasn't exactly peaceful. While it avoided large-scale world wars, it was still steeped in chaos.
Notorious criminal groups like the Red Ribbon Army and the Rabbit Mob were bad enough.
Even among the main cast, many had shady pasts. Yamcha was a desert bandit before meeting Goku and Bulma; Androids 17 and 18 were thieves in their youth; and the Ox-King was a highway robber, amassing wealth by plundering passing caravans. Meanwhile, most ordinary people in this world struggled just to get by.
Worse still, take Nam, a top-four fighter in the 21st World Martial Arts Tournament—his hometown was so poor they couldn't even afford water.
This extreme wealth gap persisted for decades, as seen with Uub, the reincarnation of Kid Buu, whose hometown was equally destitute, forcing him to compete in the World Martial Arts Tournament to support his family.
Part of why Uchiha Hikari let Esdeath physically wipe out the Red Ribbon soldiers was because of this.
She didn't see herself as some peacemaker or champion of justice—that was Goku's thing.
But for unrepentant scum like the Red Ribbon Army…
If she was going to act, she might as well go all the way and root them out completely.
"By the way…"
A sudden thought crossed Uchiha Hikari's mind: What would happen if I wished for "world peace" with the Dragon Balls?
With the Earth Dragon's style, it'd probably say, "Sorry, can't do that." True peace might only come if humanity itself were wiped out.
Knock, knock, knock—
Uchiha Hikari rapped on the door.
After waiting a few seconds, she pushed it open and stepped into Commander Red's office.
Inside were two people.
One was seated, the other standing.
The seated figure was a short middle-aged man with slicked-back red hair, puffing on a pipe—clearly Commander Red.
—The Red Ribbon Army's hunt for the Dragon Balls was under his orders, all so he could wish to grow five centimeters taller.
The standing figure was a Black man in a dark suit, likely the Black Adjutant who, in the original story, killed Commander Red and tried to team up with Goku, only to be rejected.
Both were frozen in place, covered in a thick layer of snow and frost, clearly caught in the aftermath of Esdeath's "Ice Storm Commander" ability. Even now, snowflakes poured in through an open window, driving the room's temperature lower.
"Can you wake them up, Esdeath? I've got some questions for them."
Uchiha Hikari glanced over.
Esdeath nodded, stepping over to the Black Adjutant and tapping his body with her fingertip. The ice cracked and fell away, and he jolted awake, stumbling before staring at them in shock.
"Y-You… who are you?"
"Hmph."
Esdeath didn't bother responding, moving to Commander Red and repeating the process to free him from the ice.
"Who the hell are you, barging into my office? Get out—!"
"Shut it."
Commander Red woke up furious, ready to berate them, but Esdeath's icy glare silenced him mid-sentence. The Black Adjutant, reaching for his gun, was hit with Uchiha Hikari's "Shackle Stakes" technique, freezing him in place, unable to move a finger.
"Are you guys always this dense?"
Uchiha Hikari hopped onto the desk, her legs dangling casually. "Even if you didn't see what happened outside, can't you imagine the Red Ribbon Army getting crushed? We're standing here, and no one's coming to save you. Doesn't that tell you where you stand?"
"…"
Commander Red opened his mouth, still clinging to his pride as a leader, and growled, "What do you want, storming Red Ribbon HQ? If someone hired you to take me out, I'll double their price!"
"Money?"
Uchiha Hikari laughed, her crimson Sharingan locking onto Commander Red. "You're misunderstanding something. I'm here on my own accord, not because of any grudges you've got out there. Your money doesn't mean a thing to me. What matters is…
Where's Dr. Gero?"
"?"
Commander Red blinked, caught off guard by the question, before sneering. "So, you're after Dr. Gero. I can tell you where he is, but you have to promise not to kill me, or else—"
"Annoying."
With a casual glance, Uchiha Hikari unleashed her eye power. Black flames erupted on Commander Red, who let out a blood-curdling scream and curses before the "Amaterasu" consumed him, leaving only charred bones scattered on the chair.
That single glance had let her use "Yasaka no Magatama" to forcibly probe his memories. He was no longer useful. Given his past deeds, being burned to ash by Amaterasu was a decent enough end.
Sighing, Uchiha Hikari turned to the Black Adjutant. "Talking to idiots is such a chore… Your turn."
"I-I know where Dr. Gero is! He's below this castle… I'll take you there right now!"
The Black Adjutant, sweating profusely, blurted it out, clearly terrified of meeting the same fate.
"Below?"
Uchiha Hikari raised an eyebrow, hopping off the desk. Her eyes shifted, releasing the paralysis jutsu. "Lead the way. And don't try anything clever—my patience is thin."
"…Yes, ma'am."
The Black Adjutant wiped his brow, his mind racing despite his panic.
He had long wanted to eliminate Commander Red and take his place, but Red's years of authority made it impossible. Now, with Red dead, he saw an opportunity—maybe he could use Uchiha Hikari and Esdeath to rebuild the Red Ribbon Army.
Uchiha Hikari didn't know his schemes.
And even if she did, she wouldn't care. The Black Adjutant might be a tad smarter than Red, but he was cut from the same cloth. Once he outlived his usefulness, he'd be dealt with just the same.
"This way, please."
The Black Adjutant led Uchiha Hikari and Esdeath to a hidden elevator, activating it with a voice scan. They descended, passing through layers of security—iris scans, voice checks, fingerprints—until they reached an underground laboratory.
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