The cave was quiet.
Goku opened his eyes. Morning light. The fire was dead, just ash and the faint smell of smoke.
The Queen was beside him. Her breathing was deep and even. The ring on her finger caught the pale morning light.
Broly was in the back of the cave. Curled into her usual ball, tail wrapped around her own ankle, thumb in her mouth.
He stood. Stretched. His spine cracked. He pulled on his fur wrap, tied it loose, and walked out of the cave.
The morning air hit him, cool, clean. He walked to the lake. The cold bit into his skin and he exhaled slow, ducking under, scrubbing the night off him.
He surfaced. Pushed the hair off his face. Water running down his chest, his arms, catching the early sun.
"Let's go."
He turned.
Paragus stood at the edge of the lake. Arms crossed. Fur wrap tight across her chest. Face hard. The same face she wore every morning.
Their daily fight.
"Again?" Goku said.
He stepped out of the water. Shook himself. Droplets scattered.
"Fine. But if you lose, you make breakfast."
Her jaw tightened. She turned and launched into the air.
He followed her.
They landed in a green meadow, a wide flat stretch of grass between the mountains.
Paragus dropped into her stance. Low. Tight. Fists up. Weight on her toes.
Her mind was not on the fight.
Last night. The sounds through the wall.
She clenched her jaw. Pushed it down. Locked it away.
*Focus.*
Across from her, Goku stood. Hands at his sides. Weight even. Posture so casual it was insulting. His tail swayed lazily behind him.
She felt his presence. The weight of him. The sheer mass of what he was.
Her legs felt heavy.
*Move.*
She hesitated. One breath. Two.
*MOVE.*
She launched.
Everything she had. Every ounce of speed, every hour of training. Her fists blurred, hundreds of strikes in seconds, invisible to any human eye. Punches. Kicks. Elbows. Combinations.
Goku didn't move.
He dodged all of them. Every single one. But his upper body barely shifted, movements so small they were almost invisible.
Only the ground told the truth. Beneath his feet, the dirt churned, tiny trails carved left and right, the only evidence that he was moving at all.
Her lungs burned. Her fists ached. She kept going.
Nothing landed.
Not one strike.
"My turn."
She skidded back. Braced. Saw his arm rise, casual, slow, like he was reaching for something on a shelf.
*It's coming. I have to protect. I have to at least stay conscious this time!*
She crossed her arms in front of her face. Tight guard. Every muscle locked.
His arm came down. A chop. Open hand. His wrist connected with the top of her guard.
The impact blasted through her arms and into her shoulders and down through her body. Her guard collapsed. Her feet left the ground. She hit the dirt hard, bounced.
But her eyes were open.
She was conscious.
Both of them realized it at the same time.
Paragus pushed herself up on trembling arms. Looked at her hands. Looked at him, arm still hanging loose.
She'd taken a hit from this Goku and stayed awake.
A smile spread across her face.
A real smile. Wide. Bright.
*I did it! I took a hit!*
Goku walked over to her. Leaned down. His face close to hers, smirking.
"Happy because you could take a pinch from me?"
Her smile vanished.
Replaced by a deep frown. Her eyes locked on his, then traveled over his face. His jaw. His mouth. The line of his neck.
He started to pull back.
Her arms lunged.
Both hands locked behind his neck. She pulled, hard, savage, with a warrior's grip, and her mouth crashed into his.
No tenderness. No hesitation. This wasn't the Queen's innocent press of lips. She kissed him the way she fought, aggressive, relentless, demanding. Her tongue shoved past his lips, found his, wrestled it.
Her legs swung up. Locked around his waist. Ankles crossed behind his back.
*What the-? That fast... She doesn't waste time.*
Goku stood up straight. She came with him, clinging, legs locked, mouth still devouring his. Her weight meant nothing to him. She hung from his neck.
His head was up. Hers was tilted down. One hand pulling his hair, the other gripping his throat.
She kissed him like she was trying to consume him. Wet, loud, savage sounds filling the quiet meadow. Spit on their chins.
Then, slowly, she pulled back.
Their mouths separated with a wet sound. A strand of saliva stretched between their lips and broke.
Her eyes locked onto his. Close. Inches apart. Her legs still around him. Her hand still on his throat. Her chest heaving against his.
"It won't be like yesterday, fake Saiyan~"
She said it low. Quiet.
Goku looked at her. The grip on his throat. The fire in her eyes. The way she'd said "fake Saiyan", not "male," not "boy," not "outsider."
*Fake Saiyan? There's progress. At least there's "Saiyan" in the way she calls me now.*
Eyes locked on his.
Then she reached into the folds of her fur wrap and pulled something out.
A ring.
Scrap metal. Bent rough. Edges uneven. Barely round.
Goku looked at it. One eyebrow rose.
"Don't tell me..."
She jumped down from him. Boots hit the grass. She snatched his hand and smacked the ring into his palm, the impact cracking the sound barrier, a shockwave detonating outward, bending the grass flat in a circle around them.
Goku held the ring between his fingers. Turned it. Studied it. He knew exactly what this was. Exactly what she wanted. Last night, he'd felt her ki at the entrance.
"It's really rough," he said, rotating it in the light.
He looked at her. That teasing calm.
"What's this for?"
She shoved her hand toward his face. Fingers spread. Presented like a weapon.
"Put it on."
"Why?"
"So we can breed, fool!" Her voice cracked across the meadow. "You need this to breed, don't you?!"
Goku looked at the ring. Looked at her extended hand. The furious face. The demanding fingers.
"Need for breeding? You're not wrong, but it's more compl- What are you doing?"
She grabbed his hand. Both of hers around his wrist, yanking it toward her own finger, trying to force the ring on herself. Physically dragging his arm. Her feet skidding in the dirt from the effort.
*Getting forced into marriage by a savage woman...*
He looked at her. The clenched jaw. The determination. The complete refusal to let this become tender.
*I might be developing a dangerous kink here. What the hell am I thinking about?*
She was still pulling. Getting the ring closer to her finger.
*How am I going to explain this to Bulma...?*
Her fingertip touched the metal.
*What am I saying, how am I going to explain this to Chi-Chi?!*
She was jamming it on now. Forcing his hand down with hers.
*...Argh. Fuck it. It's the past. It doesn't count.*
He relaxed his arm. Let her pull. The ring slid onto her finger, rough, too big, sitting crooked on her hand. She didn't care. She looked at it for half a second. Done.
*It's not like my kids from the past are gonna come search for me... hehehe.*
She shoved him.
Both hands on his chest. Hard. He hit the ground on his back, grass flattening beneath him.
He looked up at her from below.
She stood over him. Legs apart. That powerful body, broad shoulders, scarred arms, thick thighs, every ridge of muscle visible beneath caramel skin still glistening from the fight. Morning sun behind her. The crude ring glinting on her finger.
*Here we go.*
She looked down at him. Beneath her. On his back. Right where she wanted him.
*This is how it should be. I'm the warrior. I'm the elite. He's the male. He lies down and I take what I need. Quick. Efficient. On my terms.*
A smirk crossed her face.
*He might be stronger than me in a fight. But this? This is a woman's domain. He won't even know what happened.*
Few moments later.
She was sprawled on the grass. Arms out. Legs apart. Chest heaving. Her fur wrap was hanging off one shoulder, the chest binding twisted sideways, the lower covering bunched around one thigh. She didn't fix any of it. Couldn't. Her hands wouldn't stop shaking.
Her body was still spasming. Small twitches she couldn't control, her stomach flexing, her thighs clenching, aftershocks rolling through her in waves that made her breath hitch every few seconds.
Above her, Goku stood. Already dressed. Tying his wrap like he'd just come back from a swim. Not a hair out of place.
He looked down at her.
"Do you need help getting to the water?"
"I…" She panted. Swallowed. "...don't need… …your help."
"Make breakfast then. You lost."
Her fist clenched in the grass. Her mouth opened to say something.
A spasm hit her. Her back arched off the ground.
She didn't get up for a while.
—
After washing up at the lake, Goku stood at the water's edge.
"Let's go train."
A voice behind him. He turned.
Queen Vegeta stood there. Arms crossed. That regal posture.
He rolled his eyes.
"What is that attitude?!" She stepped forward, chin up.
"Nothing. Let's go."
He followed her to a clearing past the ridge, open ground, flat.
She dropped into her stance immediately. Came at him. Fast. Fists and knees. He blocked. Deflected. Redirected. Casual. His feet barely moved.
They worked in silence for a few minutes. The rhythm of combat.
She broke the silence mid-exchange.
"You think… with last night… possibly... eventually..."
"You being pregnant?" he said. Casual. Blocking a roundhouse with his forearm.
The words hit her harder. She stumbled half a step. Color rushed to her cheeks.
*Why am I blushing?!*
She recovered. Came at him again. Kept fighting. But her rhythm was off now, her focus split between her fists and the heat in her face.
"It's... very plausible," Goku said after a moment. He blocked another punch. "The contrary would surprise me."
She looked up at him. And a smile crossed her face.
"Oh yeah? So I was thinking about a name, I'll allow you to propose one."
*A name...*
He blocked another kick. His mind was somewhere else.
*Bulma and the others chose the names. They didn't even give me the chance. Damn Panchy and her naming convention, what kind of name is "Nappi?!"*
"Son Goku?"
He snapped back. Queen Vegeta was standing in front of him, fist still extended from a punch he'd caught without thinking. Looking at his face.
"Hm... what about Evelyn?"
She froze.
"Evelyn?!" Her fist dropped for full outrage. "That's not a Saiyan name! It sounds weak for a royal blood!" She started pacing. "No. Something like Vegeta the Second! Or Tarble! Something strong, something that carries weight. Yes, that's good, or—" She kept going. Muttering.
She was walking in circles. Talking to herself. Listing names like a newly wed woman who'd just found out she was carrying her first child.
Goku watched her. The pacing. The muttering. The way her hands moved when she talked. The way the diamond ring caught the sunlight every time she gestured.
A small smile traced his face.
—
Few hours later.
Deep in the jungle, Paragus sat on a fallen trunk.
Broly was on the ground.
Paragus watched. Arms crossed. The communication device in pieces on her lap, her fingers working the circuits while her eyes stayed on her daughter.
Broly whimpered. Hit a root. Scraped her knee. Her face scrunched.
Then the crying started.
*Tougher. She needs to be tougher.*
Her free hand drifted to her belly. Palm flat. Fingers spread. Resting there the way she had been doing all day, moving on its own.
A flash behind her eyes. Goku. Seen from behind. That broad back. The tail swaying. Walking away.
*With Broly and our daughter... we'll be invincible.*
Her fingers tightened on her stomach.
*Every Saiyan who looked down on me. Every one of them who stood behind the Queen when she threatened to exile us. Every one of them.*
*I'll take my revenge on all of them.*
Her hand traced a slow circle on her belly.
*I could ask him for help...*
She paused.
*No. I can't risk it. He's too close to the Queen now. I pull him into this, he'll choose her side. He'll protect the throne.*
She looked at Broly. Still crying.
*I don't need him. I need what he gave me.*
She went back to the device. Twisting a wire. Reconnecting a circuit.
*Bip. Bip. Bip.*
She froze.
The device lit up. A small light, red, blinking. The circuit she'd just connected had completed something. A frequency locked. A signal, automatic, broadcasting outward into space.
She stared at it.
*It's working.*
The signal was already gone. Already traveling. Already cutting through the void toward anyone listening on that frequency.
At an unknown distance, on the bridge of the lead Saiyan ship.
A console beeped.
Nappa's head snapped toward it. She crossed the bridge in three strides, shoved a technician aside, and stared at the reading.
Her eyes went wide.
"A signal! Emergency frequency!" She slammed her fist on the console. "It might be Queen Vegeta!"
The bridge erupted. Voices overlapping. Warriors crowding the display.
Bardock stood with her arms crossed. Eyes closed. Focused.
"And I hope the male is with her..."
Low. Barely a murmur. Meant for no one.
Her fist tightened against her arm.
—
Back at where Goku and the other were stranded.
Paragus landed at the cave mouth.
Broly hung from her hand by the tail. Upside down. Covered in dirt, scratches, insect bites. Her tiny face was scrunched.
Goku looked at her.
Paragus smirked. "Here. You can wash her."
His eyebrows shifted. Looking at Broly. The scratches. The dirt ground into her skin. The way she dangled limp from her own tail, too tired to even squirm.
Paragus walked past him.
His arm moved.
Fast. A blade. His fingers closed around her throat like a steel vise. Immediate. Total. The air stopped.
Queen Vegeta turned from the fire.
Paragus dropped Broly. The baby hit the ground on her hands and knees. Both of Paragus's hands shot to his wrist, gripping, pulling, twisting, every ounce of her elite warrior strength trying to move his fingers.
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
His arm didn't shift. Didn't tremble. Didn't acknowledge her effort at all. She might as well have been pulling at a mountain.
Drool spilled from her open mouth. Her eyes watered. Her face darkened, red, then purple. Veins rising in her temples. Feet scraping the dirt, trying to find ground.
"I told you to stop your stupid Saiyan ways in front of me."
She had no air to respond. Just her hands on his wrist. Her eyes bulging. Her mouth working soundlessly.
Then he felt something at his calf.
Small. Sharp. Insistent.
He looked down.
Broly. Standing. Both hands gripping his leg. Her tiny teeth sunk into his calf muscle, biting with everything her small jaw could produce. Her eyes were squeezed shut.
Goku's fingers opened immediately.
Paragus dropped. Knees hit the dirt. Coughing, gagging, both hands around her own throat. Spit and tears on the ground beneath her. Each breath a ragged, scraping sound.
She looked up at him. Eyes red. Voice raw.
"You appear strong... but you are weak." She coughed. Spat. "Our Saiyan ways made us strong. I know how the world works. And I'm raising my Broly so she can not only survive..." She pushed herself up to one knee. "...but rule."
Goku wasn't looking at her.
He was looking at Broly.
She'd stopped biting. Her head tilted back, looking up at him, way up, past his knees, past his waist, all the way to his face. Dirt and scratches everywhere. Tear tracks through the grime on her cheeks.
She grinned.
Both arms shot up. Reaching. Grabbing at the air.
Hold me.
Something moved across Goku's face. He crouched. Picked her up. She grabbed his collar and pressed her face into his neck, that spot and made a small, content sound.
"I'm sorry I did this to your mama in front of you."
He straightened. Broly tucked against his chest.
He looked at Paragus one more time. Still on her knees. Hand on her throat. Glaring up at him with an expression caught between hatred and something she'd never admit to.
"Let's go wash up," he said to Broly.
He walked out of the cave. The night was settling. Stars beginning to show through the purple sky.
Behind him, Paragus stayed on the ground. Her hand moved from her throat to her belly.
---
The hot springs were quiet.
Goku sat chest-deep, back against the flat rock. Broly floated in front of him, her small body half-submerged, the warm water loosening every scratch and bruise Paragus's jungle training had put on her. Her face was calm. Eyes half-closed.
He watched her for a while.
"You gotta be tough, you hear."
She turned. Looked at him. Head tilted. That curious expression, big eyes, mouth slightly open, studying his face.
"I'm not gonna be always here." His voice was low. Quiet. Just for her. "With your mother... it's not gonna be easy. She's hard. She'll push you. Every day. And it's gonna hurt."
He looked at her.
"Do you understand?"
She smiled. Lunged forward. Both tiny hands on his face, grabbed his cheeks and slapped them. Left, right, left.
"Bababa!"
"I'm not your baba."
She slapped him again. Giggling.
Then her attention shifted. She reached past him, stretching her small body over his shoulder, tiny fingers grabbing at something on the rock behind his head.
The fur wrap. One of his. He'd worn it for days. Slept in it, his scent was deep in the fibers.
She pulled it to her chest. Hugged it. Pressed her face into the rough fur and inhaled.
Her eyes fluttered.
She sank against his chest. The fur wrap clutched tight in her tiny arms. Her breathing slowed. Her body went heavy.
Asleep. Just like that.
Goku looked down at her. The small face pressed against his skin. The fur wrap held like it was the most precious thing she owned.
"You should listen more and slap less."
The steam curled around them. Broly was warm against his chest. The stars were out. The water was still.
Then, in front of him, the air bent.
Not wind. Not ki. The space itself warped, like reality was a sheet of fabric and something had pressed a finger into the center of it. A point of light appeared, small, sharp, white, hovering above the water's surface.
It grew.
The point expanded into a line. Larger. Brighter. An oval of pure luminous energy opening like an eye in the middle of the hot spring, casting white light across the water, across the rocks, across Goku's face.
He squinted. His arms closed around Broly.
"What now?"
The portal hummed. The water beneath it trembled, ripples spreading outward in perfect circles.
Then, a foot.
Dark-toned skin. Small. A white platform sandal emerging from the light, toes first, heel following, searching for ground. Finding only water.
The sandal touched the surface.
The water rippled but didn't break. It held. Like glass.
The other foot followed. Stepping out carefully, finding the same impossible footing. Both sandals standing on the water, dimpling the surface without sinking.
Then the rest of her came through.
Small. Short. Dark-skinned. Silver hair cut, a pixie cut that caught the portal's dying light like a halo. Golden eyes, bright as coins, scanning the spring, the rocks, the steam, the man in the water holding a baby.
Chronica.
She put her hands on her hips. Leaned forward.
"Enjoying this life, Bunshichi?"
His muscles locked.
Every one of them. Simultaneously. Like a current had been run through his body. His eyes blew wide. His jaw clenched hard.
*Bunshichi.*
That name. No one in this universe knew it. Before Aionia rewrote his existence and dropped him into a life that wasn't his.
A million thoughts crashed through his head at once. A cascade. *How does she know? Who is she ? Is it Aionia? Is it someone else? Is this the end? Is this what comes after ?*
Broly shifted against his chest. Made a sound.
He clenched her tighter.
Then, like a switch, the panic vanished. His face smoothed. His shoulders dropped. His body language said *calm* even if everything behind his eyes was screaming.
He looked at the small woman standing on his water.
"Who's asking?" A smirk crossed his face. Not his usual one. Thinner. Harder. The kind of smirk you wear when you're already calculating exits. "Wait. Don't tell me... a friend of Aionia?"
"Aionia? *Friend?*" Chronica's golden eyes narrowed. "Are you out of your mind, mortal?"
But Goku wasn't listening.
His body was somewhere else. His arms had tightened around Broly, squeezing, unintentional, the baby squirming against the pressure. His jaw was set. A vein pulsed in his temple.
*It's just like that time.*
The feeling was back. Not ki, he couldn't feel any ki from her at all. Just... pressure. A crushing weight that didn't come from strength or power or energy. The same feeling he'd felt when…
*I can't feel any ki coming from her. Just that crushing feeling. Fuck. I thought it passed. I thought I'd forgotten about those years, fighting for my life every instant…*
His hand trembled against Broly's back.
*Am I shaking? Aionia... damn bitch!*
"Oi! Are you still there, little boy?"
He snapped back. His body remembered before his mind did, the hell, the white room, the endless fighting, and he jumped. Backward. Explosive. A burst of speed that launched him out of the water and onto the rocks behind, Broly still locked against his chest.
He stood on the stone rim, dripping, naked, breathing hard. Broly against his neck.
Chronica looked at him. Then down. Then back up.
"Oh, dear." She turned her head slightly. "Put some clothes on. These mortals really are savages."
She flicked her fingers.
A thread of light appeared, spinning between them faster and faster until it solidified into what looked like a staff.
She pointed at him with it and…
*Poof.*
Clothes appeared on his body. Fabric materializing from nothing, wrapping his legs, his torso, his arms. An orange gi. Dark blue undershirt. Blue belt. The kanji on the back 亀. Turtle.
"Oh… wrong one! Well that doesn't matter"
Goku looked down at himself. The gi. The turtle school uniform.
He was still processing.
Chronica began walking. Step by step across the water's surface but her sandals never sank. She reached the edge of the spring and stepped onto the rocks. Her heel touched the stone.
No sound.
Nothing. Like she was muted. Like the world couldn't register her weight.
"What's wrong?" She tilted her head. "Usually you always have something smart to say."
He didn't answer. His jaw worked. His eyes tracked her, every movement, every step, the way the air bent slightly around her like heat distortion.
She stopped in front of him. Golden eyes looking up at his face with an expression caught between contempt and curiosity.
"What a disappointment." She sighed. "Seeing Azmina and Aionia interested in you, I was expecting at least some resistance."
She pointed the staff at his arms.
Broly floated.
Lifted from his grip, smoothly, like an invisible hand had reached down and plucked her from his chest. She drifted upward, still clutching the fur wrap, still asleep, suspended in the air above them both.
"I'm already bored." Chronica raised the staff. "Let's end th- What are you doing?"
He had his teeth clenched. The trembling was back, his hands, his shoulders, his breath.
Then, with a speed that had no warning, he slapped his own jaw with his palm.
The slap detonated. A shockwave blasted sideways, flattening the grass, scattering rocks. The sound echoed off the mountains.
Chronica flinched. "Wha-? are you insane?"
"Not anymore."
He spat blood. A red streak on the rocks. His eyes were clear now. Sharp. The trembling was gone. The fear had been slapped out of his body by his own hand.
He looked at her.
Smirked. The real one.
"Oh?" She raised an eyebrow. "You have a tongue to speak?"
"Yeah." He tugged at the gi. Looked down at the orange fabric. Pulled at it with distaste. "Unlike you… lacking a sense of fashion." He pinched the chest of the gi. "Bright orange?"
A vein popped on her forehead.
"THAT'S WHAT SON GOKU IS SUPPOSED TO WEAR! NOT-" She caught herself. Blew air through her nose. Smoothed her hands down her sides. Composed. "Not you."
"'Supposed to?'" Goku repeated.
"Indeed." Her golden eyes hardened. "Son Goku wasn't supposed to go back in time. Wasn't supposed to save the Saiyans. Wasn't supposed to have, I don't know how many kids, and I don't know how many wives!" Her voice climbed with each word. "There are TWO Son Gokus now. And YOU WERE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE SON GOKU!"
The outburst rang across the mountains. Birds scattered from the treeline.
Goku looked at her. Calm now. The smirk fading into something more measured.
"What do you mean by that? I didn't choose to be him. It happened. I guess. Is there somebody to blame?" He tilted his head. "You gonna blame god? You say it like there was a choice."
Chronica exhaled. Long. Controlled.
"I suppose." Her voice returned to its measured tone. "But you bear a part of the responsibility. Even if it wasn't intentional, you have to face the consequences."
"Consequences." He looked at the sky. Then back at her. "Fine. It's not the first time I've been cheated." His fists clenched at his sides. "But I won't go without a fight."
"Fight?" Her eyebrow rose. The staff twirled once in her hand. "Don't you realize the situation? I don't know what they see in you..." She trailed off. Sighed. Shook her head. "Fine. I'll show you. I will plunge you into desper…"
"I will NEVER go back in that white room!"
*White room?* Chronica's brow creased for a fraction of a second. *What is he talking about?*
Then she snapped out of it.
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"
Golden light erupted from his body. His hair lifted, strand by strand, blazing gold, standing rigid, sharp, burning. The aura crackled around him. The ground beneath his feet shattered into a crater. Shockwaves rolled outward, flattening the grass in expanding rings.
Super Saiyan.
The night turned to day around him.
Chronica looked at him with flat eyes. "What a primitive way to power up."
The ground beneath his feet exploded. He launched, invisible, a blur, crossing the distance between them in milliseconds. His fist came forward. Straight. Every ounce of power behind it.
It grazed her face. The air split around the punch. The shockwave carved a trench in the earth behind her.
She hadn't moved.
"And that too." She tilted her head, the air from his missed punch still stirring her silver hair. "You are way too strong for this time period."
Her staff flicked.
Lightly. Almost playful. The tip tapped his stomach.
The effect was not light.
His eyes bulged. Spit erupted from his mouth. His body folded, jackknifed around the point of contact, and then he launched. Straight up. Blasting skyward like a rocket, the air screaming around him, his gi rippling.
*What the-?! It hurts! Nobody has EVER hurt me like this-*
He caught himself. Midair. Hovering. Looking down at her, small, standing where she'd been standing, staff at her side. The smug face.
*Who is she?* Goku thought.
"Is that all you have?" She smirked.
*I'm not someone who gives up. But I can't see myself ever landing a clean hit. Maybe with that form… but it's so hard to maintain…*
"Do something."
The voice came from behind him.
He hadn't seen her move. He spun and she was there. Hovering. Right behind him. Golden eyes level with his.
Her hand came down. An open chop to his shoulder.
Light. Casual. Like swatting a fly.
He cratered.
Straight down. Through the air, through the treeline, through the earth. A massive impact crater bloomed where he hit, dust and rock mushrooming upward.
Chronica floated down. Slow. Her sandals touched the rim of the crater without disturbing a pebble.
"It's not that I'm stronger and you're weaker." She looked down at him in the rubble. "It's that it's impossible for you to beat me. It's simply not feasible."
"Everyone has a weakness!"
He exploded from the smoke. Golden aura blazing. Fist cocked back, every muscle firing, every ounce of ki concentrated into one strike.
She saw it coming. Sighed.
"Then go ahead. See for yourself."
The punch connected.
Square on her jaw. Full force. The shockwave detonated outward, trees snapping, rocks pulverizing, a wall of dust and debris blasting in every direction. The ground beneath them caved inward.
*Good! I felt the impact! in my shoulder, in my fist-*
The smoke thinned.
His eyes went wide.
His fist was under her jaw. Pressed against it. Full contact. The punch had landed.
She was untouched.
Not a scratch. Not a mark. Not a shift in her posture. Her golden eyes looked at him from above his fist with an expression of mild inconvenience.
He stared at his hand.
*My fist is covered in dirt. But her face is clean. My knuckles connected, there should be dirt on her skin too. But there's nothing. Like my hand never-*
"That's what I meant by despair earlier."
Her voice was calm. Quiet. Almost kind.
"You mortals are not able to have any influence over us. Not even the slightest."
His fist hung in the air against her jaw. Useless. Golden aura flickering.
She hadn't moved.
She hadn't needed to.