Dragon Ball: Ascension

"I don't know where you come from, stranger," Wright snarled, wiping purple blood from his split lip, "but you clearly don't understand what you're dealing with. These Bargonian savages dare to resist the Kaimo Empire? You're all delusional." He gestured dismissively toward his subordinates. "Kill the natives first, I'll handle this fool personally."

"My strength is definitely not something you can comprehend," Karnel replied with cold amusement. "You should worry about yourself instead."

"Interesting. You caught me off guard with that sucker punch, I'll admit." Wright's confidence returned as he rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck. "But now I want you to witness the true power of the Kaimo race."

Wright's body suddenly erupted with violent energy, his combat power surging past five million as a malevolent aura spread across the battlefield. The oppressive force made several of his own soldiers stumble backward in fear, while Ceror and his warriors felt their hearts skip beats.

"Hah! How's that, you fool?" Wright's eyes gleamed with sadistic pleasure as he stared at Karnel. "Still feeling brave enough to face Lord Wright?"

Karnel simply shrugged, watching Wright's power display with mild interest. "So you Kaimo can suppress your energy signatures, that's moderately impressive. No wonder I couldn't sense any particularly strong forces on this planet when you arrived."

"Well? Terrified by my magnificent power?" Wright preened. "I might consider sparing your life if you agree to serve under me."

Karnel's expression turned playfully dangerous. "Oh? You know, there was another man who once demanded I become his subordinate. Care to guess what happened to him?"

Wright leaned forward with mock interest. "Did you run away crying?"

"Actually," Karnel said with deadly calm, "I killed him. His grave grass is probably several meters high by now."

"You still think you can kill me?" Wright laughed harshly. "You clearly don't understand, we Kaimo aren't ordinary beings. Our Emperor rules the entire galaxy! It would be an honor to serve as Wright's subordinate!"

Wright seemed completely unmoved by Karnel's threat. Though he couldn't accurately gauge this stranger's power, he was certainly stronger than Wright's current collection of weaklings. Having such a subordinate would make future missions much easier.

"I'm curious," Karnel said, tilting his head thoughtfully, "what exactly gives you such arrogant confidence? This Emperor of yours who supposedly rules the galaxy? In my humble opinion, your entire Kaimo race is nothing but garbage."

Wright's aura exploded with killing intent and bloodlust. "You've sealed your fate, fool! Dare to insult the great Kaimo Empire? I won't be satisfied until I grind your bones to powder!"

Consumed by rage and radiating bloodthirsty confidence, Wright vanished from sight in an instant.

"My speed is unmatched among Kaimo of my level," his voice echoed from seemingly everywhere at once. "Can you even see where I am, you pathetic worm?"

With Karnel's fifteen million combat power, three times Wright's peak, tracking the Kaimo's movement was absurdly easy. Watching this supposed speedster lumber around at what seemed like turtle pace, Karnel had to resist the urge to laugh out loud. Is this guy serious?

Seeing his opponent standing perfectly still, Wright grew more excited, his face twisting into a sick grin. "The feeling of toying with weaklings never gets old. Simply wonderful."

"Can you feel it, fool? The terror of absolute helplessness?" Wright's features became increasingly distorted as his sadistic pleasure peaked. "Next, I'm going to play with you, breaking your bones one by one until you die slowly!"

Wright launched his first attack with manic joy and confidence.

SMACK!

Karnel caught Wright's telegraphed punch effortlessly in his palm, then slammed the Kaimo face-first into the rocky ground before stepping on his back with casual authority.

"You're pathetically weak," Karnel said with genuine disappointment. "I don't even feel like playing with you. Just tell me where your Kaimo homeworld is located, and we can end this quickly."

Wright couldn't accept what had just happened. This wasn't how it was supposed to go, he was handsome, he was powerful, wasn't he supposed to be the protagonist of this story?

Watching Wright struggle with his shattered worldview, Karnel grabbed him by his purple-tinted neck and delivered two sharp slaps across his face.

SMACK!

SMACK!

The stinging pain brought Wright back to harsh reality. His "moment of glory" had lasted all of a few seconds before being utterly destroyed by someone he'd dismissed as inferior.

Wright's expression cycled rapidly through a spectrum of emotions, joy, disbelief, confusion, despair, creating a fascinating display of psychological collapse.

SMACK!

Another slap brought him back to the present.

"Are you going to keep spacing out?" Karnel asked with growing irritation. "I asked you where the Kaimo homeworld is located."

"Even though your strength far exceeds mine," Wright spat defiantly through his swollen lips, spraying purple blood, "you'll never get our planet's coordinates from me! We Kaimo fear nothing, especially not death! Just wait for our empire's endless revenge!"

Wright's body began to swell ominously...

"Self-destruction, really?" Karnel sighed with familiar annoyance. "Another sore loser who can't handle defeat."

Having dealt with this tactic before, Karnel wasn't about to let Wright detonate in his face. He hurled the expanding Kaimo high into the air and raised one hand toward the sky.

"Stellar Barrage!"

Hundreds of concentrated energy beams erupted from his palm in less than two seconds. Though each individual beam wasn't particularly powerful, their sheer number and precision were overwhelming.

Wright's body was pierced countless times before he could complete his self-destruction, triggering a spectacular explosion high above the battlefield that lit up the desert sky like a second sun.

As the smoke cleared and debris rained down harmlessly around them, Karnel dusted off his hands with satisfaction. "Well, that takes care of that problem."