Azlan circled his opponent slowly in the air; cradling his ribs that he knew were broken. He glared at his enemy with one cold gray eye, the other eye having been turned into a red ruin from where Zaros's claws had run across his face. His white ki flickered weakly around him, trying to restore his failing strength.

" Did you honestly think that you could beat me with that little mind trick of yours?" Zaros asked with a cruel grin as he rubbed his temples. " I will admit that you have managed to give me a splitting headache, but I imagine that you have the worse end of the deal my green little friend."

" You may kill me," Azlan gasped, coughing up bloody phlegm, " but you will never destroy Namek."

" Why is it that whenever I'm about to kill someone they always have the urge to spout some mysterious threat at me?" Zaros chuckled, his hideous black ki blending in with the storm above. " Seriously Namek, you don't really think that your planet is safe, do you? After all, Freezer managed to destroy Namek for a brief period, and I am far stronger than Freezer ever was."

Azlan grunted, his lungs feeling like sandbags in his chest. He knew that this fight was over, but he had to keep stalling. If the Turos didn't manage to gather all of the dragonballs before he was killed, then all was lost.

" I've had enough of this, Namek," Zaros hissed as he let loose a blast of black ki that knocked Azlan from the sky, plunging him into the earth below. The Namek gasped, struggling to stay alive. He crawled a few feet from where he fell, and then his body gave in to exhaustion. He flopped over onto his back, wanting to at least be able to see the doom that was coming for him.

" Look, all of you!" Zaros declared to the Turos as he pointed at their fallen guardian. " I have beaten your champion. You rebellion was all in vain. You have no choice to surrender now, and feel my godly wrath. If you do not, then you shall be destroyed!"

Zaros paused, looking down at the scattered lizards and their terrified faces. He reveled in their fear. He knew that this is what godhood would be like, floating over his subjects and seeing the awe and terror in their faces. It was his destiny.

Zaros's gloating was shattered by the sound of metal crashing into earth. The evil tyrant turned to see thousands of escape pods sliding off of the Zarastros onto the planet's surface. From the pods slaves of all races emerged, dragging their wounded comrades along with them. Zaros's eyes narrowed with fury. He would punish these fools for daring to mock him at his moment of triumph.

" Tyrant!" a booming voice rumbled from the sky. Zaros turned and saw the Super Saiya-jin hovering over Azlan's shattered body, gazing hatefully at the evil warlord. " I am yet unbowed. If you wish to take these people, then you will have to deal with me."

" I thought I all ready taught you your lesson, monkey," Zaros snickered.

Burori's unblinking jade eyes glared at the evil fiend, burning with passionate hatred.

" You've grown more powerful, I see," Zaros rasped as he studied his former slave. " Still, you're nothing compared to me. You may have gotten past my guards, you may even have defeated Voma, but none of that matters. You will never be able to defeat me."

" Your time has come," Burori growled. " The universe is a cycle, and no crime goes unpunished. No debt goes unpaid."

" Oh please," Zaros hissed. " Since when did you become a crusader? You know what you really are, monkey. You're a mindless beast, no better than an ox or a dog. You only care about yourself, and you only fight because of your base instincts."

" You are an arrogant fool," Burori rumbled. " Never underestimate an opponent, no matter how small."

" And what about the she-monkey?" Zaros chuckled. " Killed her, did you? I suppose my plan didn't work as well as I thought. No matter, you have come to me one way or another."

" I didn't kill her," Burori declared, his eyes burning with green fire. " But I am going to kill you."

" Just try," Zaros hissed, his talons gleaming wickedly.

The two fighters crashed into each other, their energies slamming together like freight trains. Burori's long punch clipped Zaros on the chin, but the alien tyrant slammed his elbow into the middle of the Super Saiya-jin's forehead. Burori's vision went white, and when it cleared again Zaros had wrapped his tail around Burori's throat.

" That was a nice shot," Zaros laughed as he rubbed his chin. With a snap of his tail he threw the Super Saiya-jin downwards. Burori tumbled in midair, regaining his balance only to have Zaros swoop down and plant his clawed foot into Burori's back. The Super Saiya-jin warrior screamed in pain, lashing out with a ball of green ki. Zaros caught the blast in the talons and tossed it aside like a plaything, letting it explode harmlessly in the air. Zaros flew at his opponent, talons outstretched, eyes gleaming in wicked delight. Burori flipped himself backwards in the air, kicking Zaros in the ribs. The evil alien rolled to the side, grunting at the force of the blow.

With a laugh Zaros tossed a bolt of black energy at Burori. The Super Saiya-jin caught the blow with his hands, but it burned his palms like acid. Roaring in anguish Burori tossed the blast downwards, letting it smash into the ground below. Zaros flew high overhead, his ki hovering around him like a cloud of ravens as he dove for his quarry. Burori flew upwards, fist held high. The Super Saiya-jin's punch landed squarely on Zaros's face, but the alien didn't even blink as he grabbed Burori's head in his talons and head butted him. Burori fell backwards, clutching his face in pain. Zaros darted forward like a coiled serpent, peppering the Super Saiya-jin's exposed abdomen with punch after punch. Gritting his teeth Burori raised his fists high and brought them down on the crown of Zaros's head, knocking him away. Zaros laughed at him.

" When will you realize how futile this is?" Zaros laughed, his eyes the color of blood. " I am invincible. Nothing you can do can ever hope to match my strength."

Burori flew at the mocking fiend, holding his fist back as it gathered a force of green ki around the knuckles. With a roar Burori dove under his foe and opened his palm, letting loose with a flurry of compact energy blasts. Zaros reached up, gathering his mighty, corrupt ki, and smashed the blasts away as if they had been nothing more than snowflakes. Laughing hideously the dark lord tossed a basketball-sized orb of black energy at the Super Saiya-jin that erupted in mid-flight, flinging Burori backwards through the sky. The two fighters darted in and out of each other's range, while Azlan, the Turos, and thousands of other races watched from below, helpless to see their ultimate fate decided in a single match of champions.

" This is pointless, you know," Zaros mocked as he flew circles around Burori, easily dodging the Super Saiya-jin's wild ki blasts. " The more you fight, the more I'm going to damage you. I just need your ki for the reactor, not your entire body. The more you struggle just increases the misery you will face inside the cell as a broken husk."

" I'll never go back to the cell," Burori growled as he dove down and rose up to punch Zaros in the stomach. Zaros merely laughed as he shrugged off the blow, tearing his razor sharps talons across Burori's chest. The Super Saiya-jin flew backwards, clutching his bleeding chest.

" Did I ever tell you how I found you?" Zaros asked as he flew into Burori, smashing his head into the other fighter's stomach. " You were a corpse in an asteroid belt. Your heart was torn out, but your body was still kept alive by some sort of strange energy. I built the heart that beats in your chest now."

" If you're trying to gain my loyalties�" Burori snarled, " �You have failed miserably. I will be no one's slave. My father tried to enslave me once, and I crushed him with my bare hands."

" I'm not your father, monkey," Zaros hissed. " I am your god."

Zaros's shin slammed across Burori's face, knocking the huge warrior back. Zaros dove into the Super Saiya-jin's stomach with both fists, punching him up into the air. Then with an axe kick on the base of the spine Zaros sent Burori crashing down into the ground, forming a crater of stone and dirt. Burori rose from the crater, whipping around to face his enemy. What he saw were Zaros's clawed feet stomping down on his face, driving him into the dirt. Burori reeled in pain, unable to sense the series of blows that the evil creature rained down upon him. His eyes went wide as Zaros's talons stabbed into his stomach, and then the tyrant swung his elbow across Burori's face, leveling him.

Zaros flew above the crater where Burori lay, sneering at the defeated foe below him. Burori opened his eyes, wincing in pain as he realized that his body had been battered to the breaking point. He placed his hands underneath him and tried to rise, but he began to cough horribly, blood spattering his lips. He was beaten.

" Unfortunately, monkey," Zaros sighed, " I cannot allow your transgressions to go unpunished."

Zaros pointed a talon at the fallen Super Saiya-jin, and a lance of pure darkness flew from the alien's hand into Burori's chest. Burori arched his back and screamed, his strength fleeing his body. He collapsed into the dirt; his body twitching as his hair became black and his eyes grew dark again. Burori struggled to breathe, his eyes still full of hate and defiance.

" Your power is gone, monkey," Zaros laughed. " It appears that even the Legendary Super Saiya-jin is no match for a god." Zaros pointed his find at the base of Burori's spine, his talon glowing as it gathered power. " If it is any consolation to you, you were the best workout I've had in a long time, and I'm sure that you are probably the single greatest natural born fighter in the universe. But now the time has come for you to be broken."

" No!"

Zaros turned his head in the direction of the scream just as a creature covered in an enormous ball of pulsating blue ki smashed into him.

" Krinis-" Burori gasped.

" I won't let you hurt him!" the new fighter roared, her hair streaming behind her like a golden robe. " You've hurt us all for so long, and now you're going to take away the only person left who I love!"

" What?" Zaros asked in confusion as he tried to steady himself in the air. He looked at the glowing creature before him, and suddenly he remembered. " You! You've been my property your entire life! How dare you defy me now!"

" I won't let you hurt him!" Krinis screamed as she shot towards Zaros like a comet. The alien braced himself, but the half-Saiya-jin's punch caught him straight in the gut. Zaros's face became a mask of surprise as the wind rushed out of his mechanical lungs. He tumbled backwards through the air, Krinis hot on his heels.

" Impossible!" He screamed. " You can't possibly be stronger than I am!"

" I won't let you hurt him!" she kept screaming. She lashed out with another fist, and this time Zaros caught her fist in his hand. His face was wrought with strain as he pushed her back, terrified of the incredible power that had been awakened in her.

" Krinis- No-" Burori gasped, his voice too faint to be heard in the battle above.

Krinis flew at Zaros again and again, pounding him with furious blows.

" You fool," Zaros hissed, his eyes like burning coals. " I was destroying planets when your father was a child. You'll pay for this insult."

Krinis lunged at Zaros, who dove to the side and planted a kick in her ribs. She cried out in pain, but her fury drowned out all other feelings. She flew at him again, reaching out with ki infused hands to crush the thing that would deny her love. Zaros wrapped his tail around her undefended arm and pulled her up to him, smashing her nose in with a punch to the face that sent her spiraling downwards. Krinis steadied herself and shot upwards, determined to save Burori.

Zaros knew he was evenly matched, but he had decades of fighting experience to draw upon. The fiend saw her flying up towards him, and as she approached he flung himself backwards in a wide arc, swinging upwards at the last moment to end up underneath her. Darting upwards he flew between her arms and wrapped his arms around her neck. With one claw he grabbed her chin, and with the other he grabbed the back of her head. With a snarl he pulled in opposite directions.

The sound of Krinis's neck breaking echoed across the plain.

" Krinis-" Burori cried out. Gathering the last reserves of his ki he flew upwards, catching her falling body against his. The two of them crashed into the ground. Burori held her against him as her golden hair became the color of straw again, and her green eyes melted into chocolate pools. Hot tears cut across his cheeks as he brushed the few strands of hair away from her face. He head dangled unnaturally in his lap. He pressed her face to his chest and wept bitter tears, feeling pain worse than death slice through his heart.

" Did you two care about each other?" Zaros laughed as he floated above. Burori didn't hear him. His mind was devoid of anything save an eerie peace as he was reunited with the only person he had ever dared to trust.

" Krinis-" he sobbed, looking into her now vacant eyes. " Krinis- you said you'd never fight-"

" Now this is why I love irony," Zaros howled from the air. " You save her, she betrays you, you abandon her, she saves you, and now, at the moment when you most want to tell her that you love her in spite of everything else, I've killed her."

" You fought for me-" he whispered to her as he stroked her hair. " You never wanted to fight. You were the most gentle person I have ever known."

" Sometimes I wish I still had a beating heart," Zaros chuckled. " You know monkey, I can only imagine how much you must hate me right now, and how awful it must feel to be completely powerless."

" I wanted to see our children," Burori whispered to her. " I'm sorry I left. I know you hurt me, but it only hurt because I loved you. I was lying to myself when I thought that I could spend my entire life without loving someone. I'm sorry it had to be you." He ran his hand over her face, closing her eyes.

" Pathetic, really," Zaros commented from his vantage point. " Two animals, nothing more than mates, and when one dies, the other acts as if the world has been torn in half."

" Goodbye," Burori whispered as he laid her down in the crater, folding her hands across her chest. He bowed his head and whispered an ancient prayer to the Saiya-jin gods, one that was only used by a warrior when his or her lover died in battle.

" So what now for the crusading hero?" shouted Zaros. " Do you think that I am a monster?"

Burori turned, slowly, deliberately, to face the mocking, evil tyrant above him. His body shuddered in pain, nearly broken into a dozen pieces.

" You are a monster, Zaros," Burori whispered, his dark eyes moving with some hidden intent. " But so am I."

" What was that?" Zaros asked with a chuckle.

" I know now that I am a monster," Burori declared as he slowly rose from the ground, his ki gently pushing him upwards. " I am a monster of my own making. Every path I took, every life I took, is my fault alone."

" And is that your final revelation?" Zaros rasped.

" No," Burori growled, his voice laced with fury. " I finally learned that I am not alone, that there are others like me who dance in the place between the light and dark, wavering on the balance of good and evil. Some of them are like Krinis, who succumb because they lived their entire life in fear. Some are like Voma, who let pride turn into arrogance, and arrogance turn into cruelty."

Zaros stared at the nearly dead Saiya-jin whose voice seemed to ring with power.

" Some are like me, Zaros," Burori rumbled, " Who let themselves fall into a rage to hide from the rest of the world. I understand now why I hate. I hate because I'm afraid. I'm afraid of facing the real world, of having to live day to day with other people and letting their decisions affect my destiny. By hating, I let myself become a leaf in the wind, tossed from place to place and battle to battle. All because I was too afraid to live."

Burori locked eyes with Zaros, and the evil tyrant could see something burning inside of the dying Saiya-jin.

" But I'm tired of running from what I am," Burori stated, his voice steadily rising. "I'm tired of denying that I am a monster, a monster with the power to choose his own destiny. I'm tired of being afraid. I'm not afraid anymore Zaros."

The thousands below watched in awe as the tyrant and his defeated foe faced each other, the broken Saiya-jin still defiant.

" I'm not afraid anymore!" Burori roared, his voice booming across the landscape.

Zaros floated backwards, shielding his eyes as the Saiya-jin's roar grew louder, rising into a monstrous cry of frustration, sorrow, and unrelenting rage.

Burori felt it inside of him. It was like standing on the beach in front of a tidal wave, so terrifying and awesome was the full weight of his natural power upon him. He felt hatred growing inside him, seeping through his bones, burning like fire through his blood. This hate was different from the hate of old. This was not self-hatred, drawing upon his feelings of helplessness. This was not unwarranted hatred, burning for years without resolution because it was easier to blame another for his faults. This was pure, unbridled hate of a foe, the most primal and savage of all feeling ever to grip a warrior's heart. It filled him, bursting forth from the wellspring of power. His mind was stripped clean of anything except the undeniable desire to crush his foe.

The scream from his chest resonated into a thundering roar, shattered the surface of the planet with its fury. The slaves watching the fight scattered, rushing off to find safety from the buckling earth. Azlan, aided by the Turos, took Krinis's body from the crater and fled with the slaves. All of the people on the ground watched in awe as the Saiya-jin's body exploded with energy, sending waves of ki washing over the planet. Burori's body became a tremendous fortress of pure muscle, coursing with raw power. His eyes glowed with incredible green light, burning with fury. His hair flashed with light, then grew until it seemed as if hundreds of slender golden swords danced down his back. His ki shrunk into his body, then burst forth with new colored vigor, blazing around him like an emerald inferno.

" The Legendary Super Saiya-jin," Azlan said with awe as he pointed up at the enormous glowing warriors. All eyes were locked on their champion, who was now three times the size of his foe.

" You still don't understand, do you?" Zaros sneered. " I am a god."

" Die."

With one word Burori swooped forward, his enormous fist slapping Zaros out of the sky. The stunned tyrant crashed into the dirt. Zaros burst forth from the ground, fangs bared in hatred. The evil alien fired a blast of black ki at the Super Saiya-jin, but Burori slapped the attack aside effortlessly. Zaros screamed as Burori unleashed a hail of green ki that drove the tyrant to the dirt once more. Zaros's eyes went wide with fear as he crawled from the earth and flew low across the ground, looking over his shoulder at the pursuing warrior.

Azlan watched as the two warriors engaged in a race of death, Burori closing in on Zaros's tail. Zaros flew above a plain of tall, waving grasses, darting back and forth to shake pursuit. With a frustrated snarl Zaros fired thousands of tiny ki blasts into the field, turning the dry plain into an ocean of flame. Burori hovered above, green eyes locked on his prey.

" It was this way in the dream," he thundered as he dove through the fire, chasing after the being he was bent on destroying. Zaros ducked into the flames, his mechanical body impervious to their sting, but Burori followed easily, his incredible ki blocking all damage from piercing his muscled frame. Zaros whipped around in a quick circle, diving on Burori's head and kicking it with all of his might. The Super Saiya-jin didn't even seem to feel the attack as he turned his head to glare straight into the eyes of the evil alien. Zaros felt terror grip his heart.

Zaros rose up from the flames, firing enormous blasts of corrupted energy at his pursuer. Burori flew towards him, shrugging off the effects of even the most potent of his foe's attacks. Zaros hovered in the air, waiting for the enormous Super Saiya-jin to almost strike. In the flash of an eye Zaros circled around onto Burori's back. The evil tyrant wrapped his tail around the Super Saiya-jin's arm, using one hand to hook under the armpit and the other to stab his talons into the side of Burori's neck. With the flexing of his tail Zaros locked out Burori's elbow, stretching it to the point of nearly breaking, while he dragged his claws across the Super Saiya-jin's throat, spilling hot blood over his talons.

" Die!"

Again, Burori screamed a single word. The mighty Super Saiya-jin, the greatest of his kind to ever exist, threw his arm forward, tearing off Zaros's tail with a great spray of black, oily blood. The tyrant screamed in agony, giving Burori the chance to grab the claw on his throat and wrench the evil alien from his back. Holding Zaros by the wrist of his left arm, Burori punched his hated foe in the sternum, tearing the fiend's left arm off at the shoulder from the force of the blow and hurtling him backwards towards the Zarastros. Metal tore upon metal, and Zaros's screams rose above the crackling of flames as he smashed through the command tower into the core of the ship.

Burori floated over his prey, his ki spreading to engulf the entire horizon in its power.

" You can't kill me," Zaros rasped, terror riding his shrill voice. The alien tried to move, but the force of the blow had shattered his body armor. Black ki rose from him like a mist, fleeing his mechanical body. His old, atrophied muscles sagged in their now useless metal casing. He was powerless.

Burori's green eyes flashed, and he remembered the fate that Zaros had planned for him. The Super Saiya-jin frowned, pointing an accusing finger at the wretched creature.

" I will let you live," Burori thundered. " You will live as a powerless, immortal wretch. The Turos will repair this ship, and you will watch helplessly as your slaves go one by one back to their homelands. Then you will have an eternity to contemplate how far you have fallen in your petty ambitions."

" No," Zaros hissed, his body shivering in pain and despair.

Burori turned from the fallen tyrant, floating down to hover over the spot where the Turos had laid Krinis's body. His green eyes flashed as they saw her there, and the thousands of beings watching from below saw silver tears run down the glowing warrior's cheeks. They gathered around Krinis's body, looking at their weeping savior with a sense of awe.

Zaros burned as he watched the Saiya-jin, the monkey, bask in the adulation of the slaves. It was impossible. The plan had been so perfect, so simple, but now it all was ruined. He had nothing. He was nothing. He wasn't going to be a god. It had all been for nothing.

Zaros bared his fangs, oily blood soaking his body. He felt power rise up around him. He looked to his shattered armor, sensing that all the strength he had stolen had now vanished. Still, he sensed some great power. Pulling himself out of the pile of jagged metal where he lay, Zaros realized that he had crashed through into the engine room. The core of the reactor hummed in the darkness, its fuel cells almost completely overrun with corrupt black ki. Suddenly, Zaros knew the answer. If he could not be a god, then none of these wretches, especially that monkey, would become one either.

The beings on the ground gasped in terror as they saw the Zarastros split apart, black claws of corrupted ki rending the metal as if it was paper. Burori turned and saw Zaros burning in the black fire, his shattered body acting as a conduit to funnel out the energy of the reactor's core.

" Damn you, monkey, die!" Zaros screeched as he let all of the reactor's energy, the corrupt ki of a thousand worlds, out in one titanic blast.

The slaves below watched helplessly as a beam of black energy as wide as a moon hurtled towards them. Burori's green eyes flashed with hate, and he threw himself in front of the blast, hands outstretched holding the acidic, corrupt black ki from the planet's surface. The force of the blast drove him backwards, and he strained every muscle in his body trying to slow it down. Black ki writhed where his emerald ki touched it, and the Super Saiya-jin flexed his arms as he struggled to keep the wave of dark energy from shattering the planet. Zaros laughed hideously in the darkness, reveling in the near infinite power flowing through him. Burori's eyes burned with hate, even as he began to be shoved back towards the planet's surface.

Azlan watched silently as the Super Saiya-jin fought an impossible battle. The black wave was enormous, and the Super Saiya-jin's enormous body shuddered under the strain of trying to slow it down. Burori's eyes squeezed shut as the corrupt energy flowed over his hands around him, engulfing his body even though he still fought to hold it back. The black ki pounded against him, pressing in his ribs. With a great crack his ribs split open, and everyone below gasped as Burori's artificial heart was shattered into dust.

The Namek closed his one good eye, saying a silent prayer to his gods. When he opened his eye again, he saw the Super Saiya-jin still hovering in the air, arms outstretched, fighting the darkness even though blood poured from him like a fountain.

" He's not dying," the slaves whispered as Burori opened his eyes and began to push back against the black wave.

The Super Saiya-jin roared his battle cry even though his lifeblood was scattered in the wind. His body shook with terrible energy, and as he screamed his muscles pushed forward, driving back the dark onslaught.

" The dragonballs," Azlan whispered as he saw the glowing warrior who should have been dead begin to drive the blast back. " He's being kept alive by the dragonballs. All this time� because I wished for Turosa to be safe."

Burori screamed again, his hands burning as he began to fly forward, pushing back the dark energy. From within the core Zaros's eyes went wide in amazement as he saw the corpse that he had resurrected flying towards him, pushing before it a wave of enormous power.

" I wished to see justice," Azlan whispered as the slaves watched their hero fight back against certain doom.

Burori locked eyes with Zaros, his piercing green eyes looking deeply into the alien's horrified crimson orbs. Burori let go of the beam with his right hand, leaving the left to support the enormous weight of energy alone. Reeling back, focusing all of his awesome emerald ki into his right fist, Burori punched the center of the blast, throwing it backwards through the Zarastros. Zaros screamed as he and his ship were blasted out into space and scattered into a billion pieces.

Burori fell backwards, covered in blood, his hair turning black as he plummeted towards the earth. He landed in the arms of the Turos, who laid his body down and backed away slowly, looking at with the reverence pious hold for angels. Azlan staggered over to Burori's side, seeing the faint glimmer of light in them.

" We can use the dragonballs to wish you back," Azlan said, his chest heaving in pain.

" Don't bring me back," Burori gasped, his body spasming.

" You have unfinished business," the Namek stated flatly as he placed his cool green hand on Burori's shoulder.

" Azlan- don't bring me back."

Burori saw the Namek shaking his head, and then everything faded to darkness.

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