The semi-finals were announced to start in the morning, one day from now. The semi-final and final matches would be watched by every squad, and all available leaders would be present. Until now, the elites watching were only members of squads, but for the semi-final and grand finale, the leaders of those groups would be there.
The winner of this tournament would gain great prestige and recognition from the strongest Saiyans of this era. Of course, not all attention is good. If someone sees you as a threat, you could be eliminated early. But if you gain the favor of the strongest Saiyans, you wouldn't even need to worry about the King. Of course, he could still send you to planets that are considered impossible to conquer.
But even the impossible sometimes happens. Things like Frieza or his father dying. Both had power enough to destroy any planet they wanted, and even to kill the strongest Saiyan with just their fingers. One died to a Saiyan who was born as one of the weakest ever, and the other to a half-blooded royalty who came from the future.
Vaske hated hiding strength and acting cowardly without a good reason. In every misfortune there can be fortune — that was his way of thinking. Of course, if you can't survive misfortune, you can't hope to gain fortune.
Vaske didn't linger much longer in the arena and went his way. But a weaker Saiyan followed him. Before Vaske could enter his room, the Saiyan shouted loudly, "Vaske!"
Vaske turned and saw an unfamiliar Saiyan. He wasn't young, but didn't look old either. He had some beard, but nothing unique for a Saiyan.
Vaske asked, "What do you want?"
The Saiyan answered, "I've got a deal for you!"
"Continue," Vaske said.
"You just have to lose in the final against Nevil, and you'll be rewarded handsomely."
Vaske looked at him and said calmly, his voice lowered, "Get out, you retard."
The Saiyan looked confused and replied, "It should be your honor. Nevil planned to offer you a position as his man. He is royalty, second only to the King."
Vaske stepped closer and slapped him. His nose began to bleed and his cheek instantly swelled.
The Saiyan glared angrily and shouted, "You low-blooded Saiyan! You dare? You'll see what happens to you!"
First POV
I looked at this idiot of a Saiyan who dared to threaten me. I stepped closer again and started choking him with my hands. After he started turning blue, I let him go and asked who sent him to me.
He didn't answer at first, but after I showed him some affection by knocking out a few of his teeth, he finally spoke. It was the right-hand man of Nevil's father.
So I had already made enemies without even stepping out as a Saiyan, but I didn't care. I would crush all of them. Nevil wouldn't be the first or the last I would crush.
I kicked the Saiyan mutt away from my door and went inside to rest and eat. Tomorrow was an important day, and I wouldn't waste my time on some retard. I ate and soon fell asleep.
It was the next morning when I went out for a short walk. Before reaching one of the places I loved to meditate and stretch — the most desolate place in the camp — I heard voices. I recognized one of them immediately. It was Nevil.
He was talking to someone wearing a cloak. I didn't reveal myself and stayed hidden, listening.
The cloaked man said Nevil didn't have to worry about anyone except me.
Then he said something that made me want to fight right there and then.
"You should aim to kill him," the cloaked figure said. "You'll be rewarded by a noble who wants him dead. You just need to know that he killed his most talented son in the arena. Vaske is very talented and much younger than you, but he offended the wrong people. It's better to end someone like him and earn rewards — just don't force it. Your safety is most important."
I continued listening, but they didn't say anything major before the cloaked figure left. I went my own way before Nevil or anyone else noticed me.
Six hours later, the fights were about to begin. The throne above Turtle's seat, which was always empty, was finally occupied — by none other than King Vegeta II.
The Saiyans present looked far more imposing and different from the elites who were there earlier. They were captains of elite squads available on Planet Vegeta, granted permission to rest from Cold Force duties to watch the tournament.
We were all given our rooms to prepare.
Nevil fought first. I watched his match carefully. He fought like a classic major — nothing special — except for his ki control, which was phenomenal for a Saiyan. With all the techniques he used, he was somewhat comparable to me. He was clearly a ki specialist, while I was more of an all-rounder.
His fight ended in under five minutes, with a ki blast knocking his opponent out of the ring.
"WINNER: NEVIL!" the referee announced. "NEXT ROUND STARTS IN THREE MINUTES! VASKE AND RADMIL, ENTER THE RING OR IT WILL BE AN INSTANT LOSS!"
Both me and the other Saiyan, a female named Radmil, entered the ring. I didn't sense any high power from her — it was lower than mine. I wasn't going to waste ki on this fight.
The match ended exactly as I planned. I used as little ki as possible and waited for impatience to show. When it finally did, I instantly flared my ki and delivered a knockout strike that ended the fight.
The elites weren't impressed and only applauded politely. The King watched coldly while talking with someone behind his seat.
"VASKE WINS!" the referee announced.
Nevil looked at me with eyes that seemed like he was looking at someone who was going to die. If I hadn't overheard the conversation with the cloaked man, I would have thought it was just indifference.
Soon, our fight would begin. I had five minutes to rest.
When the five minutes passed, we were given three minutes to enter the ring. I waited until the last ten seconds — not because I was tired, but purely to play mind games. If I could, I would have done exactly what Miyamoto Musashi once did in one of his duels.
Before the referee could start the match, I shouted that I wanted this to be a death battle. Nevil looked happier the moment I said it.
The referee looked at me, then at Nevil, and finally at the King.
"I agree," Nevil said without hesitation.
The King looked coldly at us and replied, "I don't care. Just start the fight already."
The referee nodded. "From this moment on, this is a death battle."
"START!"
This time, I decided to wait and let Nevil think he was controlling the fight. I knew he would begin with ki attacks, which would slowly drain his energy. As expected, he immediately started throwing ki blasts at me. I dodged them easily at first, but soon he switched to faster ki blasts with less power.
I couldn't dodge all of them, so I returned fire with my own ki blasts. The fight entered a stalemate, but I was gaining the advantage by spending ki at a much lower rate than him.
After several exchanges, Nevil decided to close the distance and force me to take a ki blast head-on. He rushed toward me, throwing punches, but every time I tried to counter, he responded with a ki blast. I had already expected this, so his attempts didn't catch me off guard.
Then, unexpectedly, he used a technique many Saiyans considered cowardly — ki barrage. It was a technique where countless ki blasts were used to overwhelm an opponent. Saiyans didn't consider it cowardly when killing a weakling, but using it against a fellow Saiyan was different.
Some elite Saiyans and even the King showed looks of disgust.
I wasn't able to dodge all of the blasts. My armor and upper body were scorched badly. When the barrage ended, Nevil didn't stop — instead, he rushed in again, continuing his cowardly tactic of using explosions for sneak attacks.
That was when I got angry.
I decided I had already gained enough advantage in ki, and that I could afford to spend much more than Nevil. I began gathering a single ki ball, glowing purple — the color of my ki. The sight alone made Nevil uncomfortable. He wasn't used to fighting opponents of equal strength, let alone someone with more experience.
I started gaining more and more control of the fight, even managing to injure Nevil with ki blasts to his back. Both of our upper bodies were scorched — my body covered in many small wounds from the ki barrage, while Nevil had concentrated injuries on his back.
I aimed for every vital point on his body, but Nevil only allowed some strikes to land, blocking the rest. His focus was mainly on defending against my ki attacks and countering when possible.
He landed a few hits on me, but far fewer than I landed on him — mostly because of my tail.
Suddenly, Nevil began running around the ring and started pouring half of his remaining ki into his arms. Two ki spheres formed in his hands. I knew exactly what was coming.
Confident that I had more ki than him, I did the same. His ki wave was formed separately in each hand. Mine was formed with both hands together.
Nevil screamed,"DOUBLE SUNDAYYYYYY!!!"
I screamed back,"WARBORN KAMEHAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"
Even the elites leaned forward in their seats.
The two waves collided at the center of the arena, pushing against each other. Ki output and control would decide the winner. I was superior in both, but I had never done this before — while Nevil clearly had.
For the first four seconds, the center of the clash moved toward me. Then I started feeling my energy more clearly. Slowly, I pushed it back. Soon, it stood perfectly still at the center again.
We both knew we couldn't maintain this much longer. With barely any ki left, we poured everything we had into the attack. Nevil exhausted himself completely — his wave vanished.
Mine didn't.
He tried to run.
I forced out every last bit of my ki — even the energy I had been holding back, hidden by the chaos of the battle. First, I destroyed his ki wave entirely. As my wave continued forward,something happened.
It exploded near the end, right next to Nevil.
The explosion caught him directly. Half of his right side was gone — his arm, his leg, and part of his waist completely destroyed.
One elite stood up and shouted, "THE FIGHT IS OVER! THERE IS NO NEED TO CONTINUE!"
I looked at him briefly, then at the King.
I didn't stop.
I wanted to learn more about the white energy I had seen before.
Neither the referee nor the King reacted.
I stepped closer and stomped on Nevil's throat. Once again, I saw white energy leave his body and flow into mine. No one in the audience reacted.
I started forming theories. It wasn't anything bad. It wasn't ki — I was still completely exhausted. It could have been life force, talent, or something else entirely.
While I was thinking, the King stood up.
"After you recover, you will come to my palace for your reward," he said. "You have three months to learn it. If you fail, it will be your own fault for being too weak."
I kneeled."Thank you, my King."
As he began to leave, everyone — including me — shouted,"LONG LIVE THE KING AND PLANET VEGETA!"
That was the end of the tournament.
But it was not the end of Vaske's problems.
He had made many enemies — not only from those he killed, but also from arrogant Saiyans whose egos were shattered by his victories.