Dragon Ball: Ascension

(A/N: You know what? Screw it! Double release for and entire week and more! Thank you for your continued support! And don't hesitate to leave a comment or powerstone if you like the story!)

Karnel maintained his perfect performance of defeat and despair, staring blankly at Hagas as the Kaimo commander approached with predatory confidence. Only the faintest glimmer of cold amusement deep in his eyes betrayed his true state of mind.

Hagas was practically glowing with self-satisfaction. The monkey showed no signs of resistance, clearly paralyzed by the revelation of his tactical superiority.

"Muscle-brained brutes who only know how to punch things," he muttered to himself with smug pleasure. "How could they possibly compare to the tactical genius of Master Hagas? I defeated a powerful enemy with nothing but superior intellect!"

This was definitely going in his mission report. Hell, this was going in his memoirs.

As he drew closer, Hagas felt his excitement building. The monkey wasn't even trying to flee, just standing there in shock at having been so thoroughly outmaneuvered.

The life force radiating from this primitive was intoxicating. Hagas had never encountered such pure, concentrated vitality. He could practically taste the power that would flow into him once he began the feeding process.

His eyes gleamed with anticipation as he extended one arm, the limb beginning to shift and elongate into the specialized feeding appendage that all Kaimo possessed. The flesh writhed and twisted, forming the hollow, needle-like proboscis designed for extracting life essence.

"Hold still," he purred, positioning the grotesque appendage toward Karnel's midsection. "This will only hurt for a moment, and then—"

SLAP!

The sound of the impact echoed across the battlefield like a gunshot. Hagas found himself airborne, spinning through the air like a rag doll before crashing to the ground several dozen meters away. His entire left side felt like it had been hit by a meteor.

"Oh god," Karnel gasped, doubling over with laughter. "I'm sorry, I couldn't hold it together anymore. Did you really think I was out of energy? I was just watching you construct that elaborate fantasy and decided to play along for the entertainment value!"

Tears were actually streaming down his face as he continued to laugh. "But when you pulled out that disgusting tentacle thing, I just couldn't take it anymore. Had to put a stop to that before it got anywhere near me."

Hagas lay on the ground, his head spinning and his ears ringing from the devastating slap. When his vision finally cleared, he stared at the monkey in disbelief, gingerly touching his swollen face. The pain seemed to penetrate down to the cellular level.

"You... you bastard," he wheezed, struggling to his feet. "You've been playing with me this entire time?"

Karnel wiped the tears from his eyes, still chuckling. "Couldn't you tell? I mean, come on, what you said was complete nonsense! 'Two critical mistakes' and all that analysis about my psychological state? I almost started believing it myself just because you sounded so confident!"

He shook his head in amazement. "In order not to shatter your beautiful delusion, I forced myself to play the part of the defeated warrior. But man, your imagination is really something special."

Hagas stood frozen, his mind reeling as if struck by lightning. "No," he whispered. "Everything I deduced was perfect. It all made sense. You... you must be lying. You're just trying to save face..."

The desperate hope in his voice was almost pathetic.

"Yes, that's it!" he said, his voice growing stronger as he convinced himself. "You're still trying to deceive me! You did recover some energy while we talked, just like I said. You're just bluffing to make me think you're still at full strength!"

Karnel stared at him with something approaching awe. "Is there something seriously wrong with your brain? I literally just slapped you into next week without breaking a sweat. If you don't believe me, feel free to test my 'depleted' energy levels. I'll be happy to knock every tooth out of your head."

But Hagas was already shaking his head, his delusion armor firmly in place. "Excellent psychological warfare! Your ability to maintain confidence even when cornered shows real military training. But I see through your deception!"

Despite a flicker of doubt in his heart, the slap had been devastatingly powerful, after all, Hagas swept aside any inconvenient facts that didn't fit his preferred narrative.

"I don't have time to argue with someone suffering from severe delusions," Karnel said with exasperation. "Talking to you any longer is going to lower my IQ by association. Let's get this over with so I can personally shatter your ridiculous fantasy and show you some cruel reality."

"All the pretense in the world won't change the facts!" Hagas declared, his confidence fully restored. "Stupid monkey, let me beat you back to your original form!"

Karnel's expression turned cold, his golden aura flaring brighter. "Fine. You want a demonstration? Let's dance."

The battle resumed with explosive violence. Within moments, they were streaking across the sky again, their impacts sending shockwaves that shattered mountain peaks into gravel-sized fragments.

But this time, there was a noticeable difference in their combat. Hagas, despite his recovered stamina, seemed to be fighting at a slight disadvantage. Karnel's movements were more precise, his timing more perfect.

Suddenly, Hagas spotted what appeared to be an opening in his opponent's defense. Without hesitation, he poured all his power into a devastating punch aimed at Karnel's midsection.

His fist passed through nothing but empty air.

This doesn't feel like hitting anything solid at all, Hagas realized with dawning horror. It's a trap.

The faintest hint of mockery flickered in Karnel's eyes as he materialized to Hagas's side. "Fell for a simple afterimage? Your tactical genius is really showing."

Three devastating punches landed in rapid succession against Hagas's ribs. The sound of breaking bone echoed across the battlefield as the Kaimo commander coughed up blood, two ribs snapping like twigs before he was sent flying into a nearby forest.

Hagas burst from the treeline like a wild animal, his injuries driving him into a berserker rage. Pain and desperation stripped away his tactical thinking, leaving only primal fury. He began launching energy blasts indiscriminately, filling the sky with purple destruction.

"Seriously injured and can't handle close combat anymore?" Karnel observed, casually deflecting the incoming barrage with energy blasts of his own. "So now we're switching to a long-range spam attack?"

The sky lit up like a fireworks display as energy attacks of different colors collided and exploded in brilliant bursts. For several minutes, the aerial bombardment continued unabated.

Finally growing bored with the light show, Karnel raised one hand skyward. A massive sphere of energy began to form above him, easily ten meters in diameter before gradually compressing down to less than three meters. The condensed energy ball became solid-looking, its color shifting to a deep, ominous blue.

"You want to compare firepower?" Karnel called out. "Fine. Let me show you something I learned from a friend."

With a casual gesture, he sent the compressed energy sphere hurtling toward Hagas at incredible speed.

"Supernova!" he announced. "Remote-controlled, armor-piercing, and guaranteed to ruin your day!"

Hagas's eyes widened in panic as he saw the attack approaching. Desperately, he formed his own energy sphere, a massive purple construct eight meters in diameter, and hurled it to intercept the incoming threat.

The two attacks met in midair, but the result was nothing like what Hagas expected. Instead of a massive explosion, Karnel's compressed energy ball simply bored straight through the center of the purple sphere like a drill through paper, continuing on its trajectory without losing momentum.

"Oh shit," Hagas whispered, watching his supposedly superior attack get casually pierced by what should have been a smaller, weaker blast.

The dark blue sphere continued its relentless approach, and Hagas realized with crystal clarity that he had made a terrible, possibly fatal error in judgment.