Dragon Ball: Ascension

(A/N: Bonus Chapter! Thank you for your continued support! And don't hesitate to leave a comment or powerstone if you like the story!)

Karnel's expression grew serious as Kairos's overwhelming aura pressed down on him like a physical weight. No longer holding back, he allowed the power within his body to surge wildly outward.

"Hah!" Kairos vanished from sight in an instant.

Karnel vigilantly tracked the subtle changes in air pressure and atmospheric vibrations around him, his senses straining to detect his opponent's next move.

"Got you," he muttered, throwing a punch to his left.

But just as his fist approached its target, Kairos executed a fluid evasive maneuver, spinning gracefully behind him. The entire movement flowed like water, seamless and precise.

The space behind Karnel rippled with displaced air as Kairos's fist cut through the atmosphere, aimed directly at the back of his head.

Even with the strike mere inches away, Karnel didn't panic. He whipped around to block at superhuman speed, but the impact still sent him flying backward, his arm tingling from the tremendous force.

Using the momentum from his retreat, Karnel immediately reversed direction and launched himself forward again, aiming a devastating kick at Kairos's midsection.

The air around both fighters seemed to detonate from their collision, producing ear-splitting sonic booms. Multiple afterimages filled the sky as they exchanged blow after blow, their incredible speed and power actually distorting the very air around them.

In an instant, their aerial battle crashed back to the ground, leaving the landscape scarred with craters over a thousand meters wide.

After their initial exchange, Karnel hovered above the ocean, studying Kairos who floated a thousand meters away. Every strike had required his full strength, leaving his arms numb and aching. He flexed his muscles, trying to work out the soreness.

"Kairos's power is incredible," he thought admiringly. "He's easily matching my full Super Saiyan strength. Even after tens of thousands of exchanges, neither of us has gained a clear advantage. This is fascinating..."

The long-dormant warrior's instinct within Karnel began to boil over. His body trembled with anticipation, a predatory smile spreading across his face.

"Karnel, your strength far exceeds my expectations," Kairos called out breathlessly, his own excitement evident. "I'm forced to fight with everything I have just to keep pace with you. In all my eons of existence, you're the most formidable opponent I've ever faced."

"Likewise," Karnel replied, his blood singing with battle-lust. "Let's go again, my body can't wait any longer!"

The air trembled as Karnel instantly crossed the thousand-meter gap between them, driving his fist toward Kairos's chest.

Bang! Bang!

As if sharing the same warrior's instinct, both fighters abandoned technique in favor of pure, brutal power exchange. A blood-boiling euphoria washed over them as they traded devastating blows.

Each strike was delivered with maximum force. The moment either fighter landed a solid hit and staggered their opponent, they would unleash a tidal wave of follow-up attacks. In this kind of life-or-death battle, fancy techniques became not just useless but potentially fatal, one moment of hesitation or complexity could mean defeat.

The battle gradually reached a fever pitch. This was the hardest fight Karnel had experienced so far, even his desperate struggle against Cooler paled in comparison to this intensity.

Karnel gritted his teeth, his desire for victory driving him to exceed his own limits again and again.

With a final tremendous collision, Karnel's kick meeting Kairos's punch, both warriors were hurled thousands of meters apart.

After the extended battle, Karnel's stamina was severely depleted. Sweat poured down his forehead, his chest heaved rhythmically, but his eyes still burned with unquenchable determination as he stared at his opponent.

Kairos was in no better condition. His battle armor had been shattered to pieces during their fierce exchange, and the crystalline horn on his forehead glowed brighter than ever, while his hands and feet had gone numb from the constant impacts.

A thought flickered through Karnel's mind: "I could eat a Senzu bean to restore my strength and easily defeat him..."

But his saiyan's pride immediately crushed that notion. This was a battle between equals. To use external aid to restore his peak condition and overcome this magnificent opponent would be a disgrace to everything he stood for. Even if he won, such a victory would be hollow and shameful.

"This is an opponent worthy of my respect," he resolved. "What I want is to defeat him with my own power alone."

His eyes hardened with renewed determination as he completely banished the dishonorable thought.

After catching his breath slightly, Karnel launched himself across the sky once more, charging toward Kairos.

The massive cloud formations overhead dissipated entirely from the repeated shockwaves of their violent collisions. Thousands of streaks of light flashed across the planet's surface as the two warriors continued their epic duel.

"Karnel, take this, Annihilation Cannon!" Kairos shouted.

Unable to find a breakthrough in their deadlocked melee combat, he pushed off from their latest collision and retreated a thousand meters. Stretching his palms forward, he called out with labored breathing.

"Can't find an opening in close combat, so you want to settle this with an energy beam?" Karnel muttered.

Throughout their prolonged battle, neither had gained any significant advantage, but both had severely depleted their stamina reserves. Kairos was clearly attempting a decisive gambit, an energy beam clash that would depend entirely on who had more power remaining.

Karnel cupped his hands at his waist, brilliant blue energy swirling frantically between his palms.

"Ka-me-ha-me..."

In that brief moment, purple energy had already coalesced on Kairos's palms, and he unleashed a massive column of violet light several meters thick, roaring toward Karnel.

"Ha!" Karnel fired his Super Kamehameha almost simultaneously, the turbulent blue beam meeting the purple energy blast at the exact midpoint between them.

The collision created an enormous sphere, half-blue and half-purple, with both energy waves pushing against each other in a deadly stalemate. As one beam seemed to gain ground, the other would surge forward to reclaim lost territory.

Watching his purple beam gradually overwhelm the blue energy wave, Kairos showed a flash of triumph, only to see the blue beam push back with renewed force, compelling him to increase his output even further.

The violent collision of energies distorted the space around the blue-purple energy sphere to a degree visible to the naked eye. Debris and rubble from the battle-scarred planet below was drawn upward by the massive gravitational disturbance, slowly rising into the maelstrom of power above.