Gone Native: Big Leagues (ch. 45) (Patreon)

The power that surged through me wasn’t an explosion of strength like what I associated with the Wrath State or Super Saiyan transformations. My ki didn’t multiply several fold, granting me impossible strength and speed. It didn’t feel like raw electricity flowing through my veins, sharpening my senses to a razor's edge while I felt like a too-small vessel for the pure raw power that I contained. It was the opposite, really. A completely new sensation.

It was like my entire body had been asleep for all of my life and as I swallowed the flesh and blood of a divine being, my body began to stir from its deep slumber. The god ki that nestled deep in my gut began to flicker -- it was my own, but it was weak. Barely an ember that had but a moment to exist before it would be snuffed out. Channeling my ki towards it, I tried to turn it into kindling to keep the ember burning, only to find that god ki was a glutton. The ember demanded exuberant amounts of ki to turn into the barest drop of god ki.

That, I suspected, would change if I finished eating.

Ares hovered across from me, his aura portraying his fear and uncertainty for me to see. I couldn’t say that I liked Ares very much. Given what he tried to do, I think I was going to enjoy killing him. Eating him wasn’t anything personal. He was just a meal I needed to consume to grow stronger. Like a human child needing to eat their vegetables. What I couldn’t say about him, however, was that he was a coward, because he swallowed his fear and leveled his sword at me.

I imagine that this was one of his few life-and-death battles. Rolling my shoulders, two ki spears formed in my hands and these were a bright red with only the barest hints of blue to be found swirling inside of them. The fire around Ares’ sword swelled while the storm above began to churn violently, becoming a cyclone as the winds howled above. Rain began to fall from the sky in fat drops, becoming a torrent in no time. Around Themyscira, the seas started to revolt, becoming huge waves that crashed into each other or the shores of Themyscira.

“I hope you don’t expect me to just let myself be devoured, Saiyan?” Ares questioned and my savage smile grew a fraction. It was hard. So very hard. It was hard to accept a cold truth. Because, it was that same truth that made me accept what Yamoshi had said about my efforts -- that they wouldn’t work and my attempts would end in failure and devastation. It was hard because I wasn’t that different from those that I was trying to change. The ones that lived for the fight. For battle. To discover a powerful opponent and testing their skills and worth against them and finding that they had to dig deep to win.

It was a hard truth, but right now, I was happy. Probably the happiest I’ve been since Broly chose to fight by my side. My fights with Superman, Wonder Woman, and the rest of Earth were tainted by my failure. That we had been pushed to fight because I was unable to convince them of my intentions and the death of my soldiers. The awesome power that filled me now was intoxicating and I stood before a god, waiting to do battle.

I enjoyed fighting. Worse, it was one of the few things that I knew I enjoyed. It was one of the few things that I knew was fun.

“I’d be disappointed if you didn’t,” I answered, a shimmering red aura flickered around my body. “It’s no fun unless your lunch fights back,” I told him before I moved, closing the distance between us in an instant. Ares swung wide, intent on driving me back, only to find one of my spears slamming into his chest when I threw it at him. My spears were sharper. More durable. Or, rather… both of us used god ki, which was fundamentally different than normal ki. If normal ki was steel, then god ki would be nth metal in comparison and there was a vast difference between having traces of nth metal in a structure and dealing with something made entirely of the substance.

Both of our attacks were made of god ki. Even with the trace amounts of normal ki in my spears, in quality, my attacks were well above Ares. His was raw, untamed power while mine was harnessed and controlled.

The long spear slammed into his chest, punching a hole through the wall of flames, knocking Ares back with explosive force. His back slammed into the island below, carving through a building and I was right on top of him. He sent a desperate slash of flames at me, only for them to wash over a ki shield that I used to burst right through them. Appearing before him, I threw my hand back, curling it into a fist, and brought it down on his metal helmet hard enough that the entire island shook.

His helmet warped around the blow, but Ares was quick to get back into the fight. Spinning my short spear in my hand, I batted it against his sword in a flurry of blows, this one holding up far better than the spears I used before. The spear I threw before carved a deep groove into his armor before the tip broke, making it a weak point that I went after like a hound smelling blood, and Ares did his best to protect that weakness.

The aura that betrayed his next move was clearer now. I hadn’t realized it at the time, just a minute ago, but it had been like looking at a mirror covered in fog. Was that because I had been using Yamoshi’s god ki? While it wasn’t enough to see more than his next move, I found my counters to him far outstripping his to mine. In his posture as we flew through Themyscira, our battle completely uncaring of what was in our way and simply slammed through it, I saw that he was getting frustrated. Desperate, even. He felt his defeat inching closer and closer, yet for all of his effort he couldn’t keep it or me away.

My foot found his stomach, forcing Ares to bend around the blow before I spun sharply over his counter with a swipe of his sword. Fire washed over the trees that clung to the hills of Themyscira, burning them to cinders. As the sword passed underneath me, I slammed my other foot into the side of his head, driving Ares to the ground while I spun my short spear to drive it down into his heart. The tip of my spear struck the flat of his blade instead, the impact so great that it rang out in a sonic boom that felled the burning trees around us.

I used Ares as a plow, digging a long trench with his body as he tried to keep my spear away. I thrusted up with it, intending to skewer his head, but Ares guided the blow to the side using the flat of his blade. He slashed at my side, thinking me out of position, and because of that, he left himself open. I channeled the last vestiges of Yamoshi’s god ki, and a huge portion of my own, leaving me feeling almost winded, to create a second short spear that slammed the edge onto his arm just above the elbow.

There was faint resistance at first, but the god ki was dense enough that it held its form and cut through Ares’ sword arm. Golden ichor erupted from the stump while Ares howled in agony, his other hand going to his stump. I kicked his sword away before knocking up the arm itself. Eating an opponent when they were still alive was a first for me. Tossing my second ki spear into my other hand, I caught his arm and brought it to my mouth.

It was a small mercy that I didn’t actually have to eat it in a traditional sense. The arm acted as kindling that fed the ember of god ki within me, making it a small flickering flame. My body continued to awaken from a deep slumber, the power of a god taking root within me. I don’t think the Guardians intended for the Saiyans to reclaim our godhood like this, but I took it all the same. The arm and armor dissolved in my body, becoming pure divine power that became my own.

All the while, Ares looked up at me, his aura betraying his fear and pain. “Do you even understand what you are doing, fool? Do you think my father will take my death lightly?” He asked me, golden ichor seeping through his fingers as he clutched at his stump. He pushed himself into a sitting position, looking up at me with defiance to mask his fear.

“I thought better of you, Ares, than to hide behind your father’s name,” I responded, merging the two ki spears into one and leveling it at him. The spear didn’t grow in size. It just grew denser and stronger. A spear fit to kill a god. “For what its worth, its nothing personal. You chose to put yourself in my way,” I told him, taking a step forward and raising the spear high to skewer his heart with it. The rest of the Olympians would likely cause some problems, but with Ares's divinity, I had a chance to defeat them. I could kill and eat the weaker gods, or feed them to Saiyans that I trusted… or, rather, Broly.

The aftermath wasn’t ideal, but I was willing to accept it if it gave me my shot at Trigon.

“Any last words?” I asked him, giving him that last courtesy. His aura shimmered with impotent rage and he said nothing. “I just thought I’d ask,” I said, thrusting the spear down with full intent on killing Ares where he sat. It wasn’t the end that he likely deserved, to be executed for the sake of power, but it was the ending that I planned to give him.

Only, instead, the tip of my spear crashed against the palm of a hand that crushed the head of my spear like it was made of glass. My gaze went up at the man who put himself between me and Ares -- he was tall, a bushy white beard and flowing white hair that was held back with a golden crown that looked familiar. He smelled of salt water and the ocean breeze, his barrel chest bare except for the half of a toga that was draped over one shoulder, revealing a powerful body.

It would seem that not all gods were created equal.

“Poseidon, I presume?” I questioned, withdrawing my spear to see that it was only a staff. My god ki slipped through his fingers, a small trail of ichor dripping down his list. A thrust that I intended to kill Ares with had earned a small gash against Poseidon. That didn’t bode well. Especially when Zeus was known for being so powerful that none of the other gods could stop him from following through on every whim he had.

“King of the Saiyans. Or, perhaps, it is God of the Saiyans now?” Poseidon questioned lightly, his voice heavy and carried an unnatural weight to it. If Ares was like looking into the sun, then Poseidon was… he was like looking up into the night sky and realizing that every single speck of light in the darkness was a sun that was millions of miles away, complete with its own solar system, and between those stars was millions of miles of nothingness. It was the feeling that you were a tiny, tiny, tiny part of the universe and your entire life, no matter how great or terrible, would go completely unnoticed in the grand scheme of things.

“King,” I decided. I had seen what happened when a king treated themselves as a god. More than that, despite the divine power in me, I didn’t feel any different beyond… stronger. Stronger with a new type of strength.

“Yamoshi’s presence is insult enough, but one not worthy of a response. You, however, have laid hands upon a member of Olympus and stolen divinity. Your invasion of Earth matters little and we have been content to allow you and your empire to exist. This is a very different matter that must have a response. I ask of you, King Tarble of the Saiyan Race, how shall you make amends?” He asked me, looking down at me in more ways than one.

“I think we’re well past the point of posturing, god of the sea,” I returned. I wasn’t arrogant enough to think I could win just because I got my hands on a little divinity. Ares had been pinned into place by Yamoshi. At the same time, I couldn’t show weakness. “Ares issued a challenge and I answered. How will you make amends for interfering in our fight?” I returned, taking in a slow breath as I prepared for the fight to spill out of control. I had no clue where Yamoshi stood in the hierarchy of gods, but I would be relying on him until I was powerful enough to take on the Hellenistic gods on my own.

Behind Poseidon, Ares forced himself to his feet with a swallowed groan. “Do not interfere, Poseidon. Do not shame me any more than you have,” Ares bit out, earning form Poseidon from over his shoulder that was barely disguised contempt.

“Spare Olympus any more shame, boy,” Poseidon scoffed, his gaze sliding back to me. “You were defeated soundly by a fledgling god.” Ares was anything but pleased with the remark. His aura betrayed an thought of attacking Poseidon for the sake of preserving his own pride. “The battle is over. For now… walk freely, King Tarble. When Olympus is ready to address your transgressions, you will be summoned.”

With that, both Poseidon and Ares simply winked out of existence. Less like they teleported and more like they simply snapped out of existence. My eyes narrowed at the spots that they had occupied before I slowly looked upward, watching Zeus’ presence slowly leave the dark storm above. As he left, the rain began to slow to a trickle until it stopped entirely, while the clouds themselves faded from a pitch-black, to dark gray, to normal white clouds. The presence of the gods was gone from Themyscira. Or was it hidden?

In any case, one thing was clear.

“I need to train,” I muttered. My base state needed to be vastly stronger if I wanted to contend with gods like Poseidon or Zeus, much less Trigon. Not to mention, the Ascended Super Saiyan form still eluded me. Since my arrival on Earth and the establishment of my empire, my training had taken a back seat. There hadn’t been a pressing need on account that I already defeated the Earth's Heroes, I was amongst the most powerful beings in the galaxy, and there hadn’t been an enemy to aim for.

Now, I had the Olympian gods. I had Child, a Lord of Chaos and whoever else she told about the Dragon Balls. And… I had Trigon.

My training needed to be a top priority going forward if I wanted a chance at defeating the new enemies I had made.

“You won?! Hey, hey, Brother -- did you save some for me? I wanna become a god too!” Elery exclaimed, slamming into me with a hug, stars in her eyes as she took in my appearance. Her aura told me that if she was any more excited that she could actually die. “This transformation is so much cooler than the Super Saiyan one! You’re all red and stuff,” Elery said, letting go of me to stand on the ground and she practically vibrated through it.

Despite my concerns, I patted the top of her head before I turned my attention to the ki signatures of the others. The space between us… I tested the limits of my power and pinched the space between me and the others, instantly teleporting to Diana, Clark, Mom, and Queen Hippolyta. Elery gasped, looking over the moon with pure excitement, and I felt somewhat satisfied myself.

Instant Transmission. It was a technique that I had known about for years, but I had never managed to get it to work. The math behind how it would work to avoid any accidents was too much for me and I hadn’t found a way to sidestep it. Now? Now, I just had to pinch the space between me and my target to instantly close in.

Some of the onlookers were far happier to see me than the others. Queen Hippolyta looked at me with despair and horror. It shone clearly in her aura, a deep dark stain on it. A scar on her soul that was old but had never healed. Her gaze looked beyond me at the damage that had occurred throughout the battle before refocusing on me.

“Leave,” Queen Hippolyta breathed, speaking the command like a death sentence. Clark shifted where he stood, while Diana placed a hand on her mother's shoulder to get her attention, but Queen Hippolyta brushed her hand off to take a step towards me. “I allowed your presence because of the faith I have in my daughter, but it was clearly misplaced. Not one hour upon the shores of Theyscira, you have brought devastation when before you there were thousands of years of peace and tranquility.”

“Mother,” Diana stressed while Clark gave me a worried look. I could see frustration bubbling in my Mother’s aura, but she was swallowing it down. I… was rather surprised about that. I always assumed that Elery got her impulse control from her. “That remark is unbecoming. It was our gods that instigated the battle, mother. Ares would have usurped an empire from King Tarble without intervention from Yamoshi. It is us that must make amends.”

Diana was correct in a logical way. She was angry as well, every bit as her mother was, but her mother had deep scars from the past that Diana didn’t have.

Queen Hippolyta was coming from a place of emotion and she wasn’t entirely wrong. She had taken a huge risk, in her eyes, by allowing men to step foot on the island. A risk that hadn’t paid off at all because we didn’t even get to eat before everything went to shit and the island was devastated by a short and brutal battle. A fact that tied into those old scars, feeding into them, and it was because of them that she dug her heels in.

“Be silent, daughter,” Queen Hippolyta commanded, her tone sharp and cold enough to cut to the bone. Diana, despite herself, flinched back at the tone while the Queen of the Amazonians glared at me. “You will leave this place, King Tarble. You will never return. Not you, nor any man. The gods may allow you to rule over Earth, but you will not rule over Themyscira.”

Annoying. I really wasn’t any good at diplomacy, was I?

“Meh, s’not like there was anything worth ruling here anyway,” Mom dismissed, her frustration bubbling over as she crossed her arms. Queen Hippolyta turned to her and Mom met her look unrepentantly, “All I see are a bunch of scared women hiding behind divine protection because they’re too scared of the wider world.”

“You,” Queen Hippolyta began with a low snarl, “do not know our history. The horrors we endured at the hands of men.”

“I don’t. Don’t really care to, either. I’m just calling it how I see it -- an island full of cowards whining that something bad happened to ‘em, what, thousands of years ago? Sheesh. How pathetic can you be?” Mom continued, earning a sharp look from Diana. I don’t think she exactly disagreed with the point of what Mom was saying, but she took a lot of issue with how it was being delivered.

Clark decided to step forward, “I think,” he interjected, looking at Queen Hippolyta, “we should all take a step back and a breath. No one was injured during the battle,” he said, and Queen Hippolyta nodded to him, giving him a thankful look that told me that was because of him and Diana. “We can help with the reconstruction if you would like but, given that this is the home to the greek gods… Tarble, I do think it would be best if we left.”

I gave a slow nod of agreement while Mom huffed. Diana looked apologetic, but her mother still looked at me with contempt in her gaze. “For what its worth,” I started, flying up with Elery and Mom, “I am sorry that it came to this. I didn’t expect to get a reaction out of your gods when they did nothing when I took over Earth.” With that as my parting words, and with Superman following along, we left the island of Themyscira.

I don’t think that Ada’la would ever let me go on a diplomatic mission by myself after this. So far, I was 0-2. The only silver lining there was that they were both on Earth.

“Clark?” I said as we flew away, bringing my attention to Superman, who seemed dissatisfied with how things had ended on Themyscira. “I need to speak to the Green Lanterns. And the Guardians… and I need to do it now.”

It was long past time for me to get answers about the history of the Ancient Saiyans out of them, and it was time to start the search for the Dragon Balls.