As soon as her hate-filled eyes glued back onto the earthling before her, the vixen clicked her tongue irritably and cracked her neck. "You know what… fuck it. I'm going to enjoy this." Her frown deepening, the woman then gave a low grunt as her blue aura burst up around her, accompanied by a storm of electricity. The blast of her energy engulfing her body sent a gale in all directions, which quickly transformed into a cyclone when she achieved maximum power. As soon as her output stabilized, Set bared her fangs menacingly at her foe. "Don't act so smug just because you think you've gained the upper hand. I'm going to take that cute face of yours and pound it into the ground until it's just a muddy stain on the sole of my foot."
Gohan scoffed, "I'd like to see you try." He then took a step back and gestured for the woman to bring it on. "Come and get me."
The goddess leered excitedly, "With pleasure."
Then, in the blink of an eye, the pair powered up and rocketed into the sky, taking off from the ground and leaving the earth in the form of two pillars of red and blue light. Whis, still tied up and hanging in the air, watched the pair leave the planet until they were well and truly out of sight, yet continued to follow the battle with his other senses.
While Gohan and Set flew safely off of the planet, across the great plains of the desert where Vegeta and Zangya had been sent on a one-way flight, the latter of the two fighters was just regaining consciousness. Battered and covered in dozens of cuts and bruises, the wounded Hera pulled herself out of the ditch she'd formed and back onto the surface of the dunes. Coughing and sputtering on the sand that had gotten into her mouth, the woman peered up through a blurry vision to see what the hell was going on.
Stretching out her ki reading ability, the Z-fighter felt a whole bunch of things at once. For one, the rest of her team was down, and both her best friend and the dog bitch were no longer on the planet's surface. Zangya knew this much because she couldn't see anything over on the pyramid in the distance except for the poor bastard that was tied up and floating in the air. However, while she did sense everybody else was still in the area alive and kicking, she suddenly noticed something else that instantly had all her alarm bells go off.
Following the barely registering ki signature she'd picked up to its source, she quickly spotted Videl lying over on the terrace of the pyramid a full kilometer away. Even though she could barely see through her messed up vision and the blood dribbling down her face, her other extra sensory capabilities allowed her a much better scope of the situation. When she detected the girl's body stationed there with her life force ebbing away little by little, the Hera knew instantly that something was wrong and looked up in panic.
"Videl… no…" Mustering all the strength that she could, Zangya pulled herself out of the mountain of sand and floated all the way back to the pyramid.
Due to all the damage she'd suffered at the hands of the goddess, it was taking everything she had just to stop from dropping out of the sky.
When she eventually arrived on the terrace, the blue woman stumbled forward and collapsed next to the fallen teenager. After seeing the state she was in and the hole in her stomach, the orange haired fighter wasted no time in reaching for the girl's shorts and digging into her side pockets.
"Come on… I know you had more than one. I saw it. Please be here… please be here…" Zangya whispered, her eyes shimmering with desperation as she hurriedly rummaged through the tight sleeve. Withdrawing her hand a few seconds later, relief and joy quickly washed through the Hera, "Yes. Oh, sweet Kai, thank you." As she thought, the girl still had a Senzu bean on her. Grinning through a half-lidded gaze, the Z-fighter promptly elevated the teen and pushed the bean between her lips. "Come on Videl… swallow it. Don't quit on me now, babe…"
She was the toughest girl she knew. There was no way a shot to the chest was going to be enough to put this human down.
Zangya hoped, no… she knew if anyone was strong enough to pull through a situation like this, it was Videl…
XXX
Encased in their respective auras, both Gohan and Set blazed two parallel trails away from the earth. Easily breaking out of its stratosphere and entering the thermosphere in a matter of moments, the pair then began a running battle across the solar system. When the two of them streaked past the moon, performing a variety of impressive aerial maneuvers and spins, the super powered warriors then rushed each other and began trading hits at close range.
Yelling out at the top of her lungs, Set lunged at the boy with a left overhand, the blow connecting with a deafening crack before the two of them began circling each other at high speed. Moving in every so often to trade blows, the pair continued their dance across the heavens until, in the blink of an eye, they left the solar system far behind and blasted further into space. Shockwaves rang out like fireworks as they hammered away at each other, with the God of Storm attempting to land a hook until Gohan ducked under it and drove a side kick into her stomach. This then earned him an elbow across the face before he countered with a right cross, sending his opponent blasting out of the spiral arm of the Milky Way and further into the vacuum.
As soon as he set her up, the glowing red fighter rocketed after her and nailed her in the side with another kick, sending her spinning to another part of space altogether.
The red bolt chased after the out of control blue one, cutting her off with a shot to the back and sending her in another direction entirely. This quickly led into another game of tag as the pair blasted further into the cosmos. Clocking speeds well above what was mathematically possible, the duo passed by dozens of other galaxies towards a green nebula far in the distance.
Arriving at a star system resembling the Sombrero Galaxy floating within throwing distance of the brilliant dust cloud, the pair rocketed towards it at insane speeds. The duo remained locked in epic combat as they exchanged hits while spinning into the outer dust lanes of the celestial region, where Set ended up kicking Gohan through an enormous cloud of dust and straight through to the other side. When she raced around to cut him off, the demi-Saiyan spun on the spot and greeted her with a kick across the face, which she did so as well. Their blows collided with an ear-splitting shockwave and the force of a supernova, breaking up the dense layer of cloud behind them and clearing the vacuum.
When the pair spun away, they quickly halted in midflight and returned to normal positions. Floating amidst a cluster of moons orbiting an enormous gaseous giant, with a star burning brightly in the distance, Gohan and Set took that opportunity to regain their bearings.
Staring each other down, Set spat the blood out of her mouth while Gohan wiped the trickle out of the corner of his. Both now bearing mirroring battle wounds, they then regarded the other with seriousness and caution.
A smile slowly formed on Set's face, "I can't tell you how long it's been since the last time I fought a battle like this one. In the eighty million years I've held a position as a God of this universe, I haven't faced a single opponent worth calling a challenge. Even those who were in the same league as me couldn't measure up to the level that I desired. Meeting you today is a refreshing change of pace."
Narrowing his eyes on the woman, Gohan frowned, "I wouldn't get too comfortable if I were you. You killed my best friend… so don't expect me to show you any mercy or pay you any kind of compliments."
"That much is a given," the goddess replied, tilting her head in his direction as her blue aura fluctuated at its usual rate. "I will not try to argue. You have every right to hate me for what I did. After all, I too have experienced the same pains that you've felt. Serving as a guardian of this universe requires a great deal of sacrifice, especially from those chosen to be its deities. You and I share quite a bit of common ground in that respect."
The demi-Saiyan grunted, "That's the only thing we have in common with each other. Nothing else."
A chuckle came from the vixen as her tail wagged behind her, "Are you sure about that? Why don't we keep things civil between us for a couple more minutes and try to find out more about each other? If we keep this up, I'm sure you and I will be able to find out some interesting things about how the other person ticks… maybe more." She then winked playfully in his direction.
Gohan immediately smirked in response, "Sorry… but I have no intention of talking to you for any longer than I have to." His fist then clenched tightly, a bolt of lightning shooting off of him and striking one of the moons surrounding them. The impact of the expulsion of energy destroyed the satellite effortlessly, turning it into a cloud of rubble. "I'm here to get you back for what you did to my friends and that's that. There is no in between."
Snorting, the fox deity nodded, "I figured you would say something like that. Alright then…" Stretching her neck out, the woman then slid into a fighting stance and fixed her gaze back onto her foe, "Where were we?"
The moment their expressions steeled, the two warriors shifted forward into battle ready positions and, upon marking the other with their senses, charged forward at blinding speeds.
===============================
If you want to support me and also access 30 advance chapters, join my patreon with the link patreon.com/EddyHazArd Or just search "EddyHazArd" in the patreon searcher.