Dragon Ball: Ascension

Karnel smiled without saying a word as he watched his compressed energy sphere bear down on Hagas. Though the purple energy ball was several times larger in volume, the quality difference was like comparing a soap bubble to a cannonball.

He continued controlling the dark blue sphere, watching it scatter the remnants of Hagas's pathetic defense and continue its relentless pursuit without losing any momentum.

Hagas's eyes widened in pure terror as he tried desperately to escape the bombardment. However, the energy ball was under Karnel's direct control, tracking his every movement with predatory precision. How could he possibly escape so easily?

When Hagas saw the sphere gaining on him, coming within mere meters of impact, panic truly set in. The energy ball maintained a speed just barely slower than his own maximum velocity, giving him no opportunity to stop and catch his breath.

A bizarre spectacle unfolded in the sky above the battlefield. Hagas and the dark blue energy sphere engaged in a twisted game of cat and mouse. When Hagas accelerated, the sphere matched his pace. The moment he tried to slow down, the condensed energy would brush against his body, and the searing pain of high-energy corrosion forced him to burn through his reserves just to stay ahead.

Meanwhile, Karnel had settled comfortably on a large boulder below, occasionally making subtle gestures with one finger to adjust the sphere's trajectory like a conductor directing an orchestra of destruction.

This went on for what felt like an eternity. Hagas, flying at maximum speed with no respite, couldn't maintain such intense energy consumption indefinitely. His speed began to falter as his reserves finally approached their limit.

Seeing that his opponent had reached the point of complete exhaustion, Karnel decided to end the game. The energy ball suddenly accelerated with lethal intent, pressing against Hagas's back and driving him into a violent spiraling descent toward the ground below.

The exhausted Kaimo commander had no energy left to escape the sphere's embrace. He watched the rocky ground rushing up to meet him with growing despair, certain that his end had come.

Just as he was resigning himself to death, Hagas's expression suddenly brightened as he spotted a familiar figure streaking through the sky from the direction of the capital city.

Aiken, another general from the four major legions of the Kaimo army, was flying at lightning speed toward his doomed comrade.

At the last possible moment, when the energy ball was barely three meters from crushing Hagas against the ground, Aiken intercepted the attack. With tremendous effort, he managed to catch the sphere and slowly push it back into the air, giving Hagas a desperate reprieve.

Those dozen seconds dancing on death's edge left a profound psychological scar on the normally arrogant commander.

But just as Hagas was beginning to savor his miraculous survival, a sharp pain suddenly bloomed across his back, accompanied by an all-too-familiar mocking voice.

Seeing that another Kaimo general had interfered with his attack, Karnel frowned with mild annoyance. Without missing a beat, he condensed another energy sphere, this one smaller but far more concentrated.

"Trying to save your friend?" he muttered to himself, watching Aiken struggle with the larger sphere. "Let's see how well you multitask."

While Aiken was completely occupied dealing with the first energy ball, Karnel vanished and reappeared directly behind the exhausted Hagas.

"What? Thought someone could rescue you?" he whispered directly into Hagas's ear, pressing the new energy sphere against the commander's back. "How naive. So far, no one has ever escaped my finishing moves."

The sphere began spinning violently against Hagas's spine, and waves of searing heat started drilling into his body. The violent energy invaded through his skin, creating a spiral pattern that spread across his entire back before branching out in intricate blue lines that traced along his nervous system.

This was a technique Karnel had developed based on something he'd seen in an old movie during during his first life, combined with his own research into advanced energy manipulation. This was his first time using it in actual combat, and he had to admit the visual effect was quite impressive, along with its terrifying penetrative power.

Hagas felt his entire body being filled with corrosive, violent energy that destroyed every muscle and cell from the inside out. The agony was so intense that his facial features twisted into a grotesque mask of suffering. His eyes bulged from their sockets as his mouth opened in a silent scream, but no sound emerged despite his desperate attempts.

"How's that feel?" Karnel asked conversationally, pressing the energy sphere deeper into Hagas's body with casual indifference. "Getting that flying sensation yet? Like you're about to soar straight to heaven? This is the first time I've used this technique, so you should feel honored to die by such a unique method."

"You... this... bastard..." Hagas could barely form coherent words as more than half his internal organs were being liquefied by the rampaging energy. His speech came in broken, intermittent gasps.

Despair filled what remained of Hagas's consciousness as his ability to resist faded completely. The world around him grew dim as he finally slipped into the dark abyss of death.

Karnel pressed the entire energy sphere into Hagas's body, then stepped back ten meters to observe the results of his handiwork.

Hagas was already dead, his internal organs, brain tissue, and even bones reduced to an indistinguishable mess. His body began to swell like a balloon being inflated beyond its limits. When it finally reached the critical point, there was a wet, explosive sound as blood, tissue, and bone fragments scattered in all directions.

Karnel stood motionless through the gruesome display, showing no emotion whatsoever at having killed an enemy in such a brutal fashion. If anything, he seemed slightly disappointed by the anticlimactic ending.

"Strange," he murmured to himself, a frown creasing his brow. "Why do I have this uneasy feeling in my subconscious?"

He double-checked the surrounding area but found nothing else threatening. The sensation persisted nonetheless.

"Have I been fighting too much lately? Am I developing some kind of combat-related anxiety disorder?" He shook his head, deciding to shelve the question for later consideration while keeping it filed away in the back of his mind.

In truth, even Karnel himself might not have fully understood what was happening. The savage instincts buried deep within his warrior bloodline were gradually influencing his behavior, making him increasingly cold-blooded and ruthless toward his enemies. The line between necessary violence and cruelty was beginning to blur, and he was starting to find a disturbing satisfaction in the complete destruction of those who opposed him.

But those were concerns for another day. For now, he turned his attention to Aiken, who was still struggling with the first energy sphere and had just witnessed his comrade's spectacular demise.