“Welcome to New-Krypton,” Goku dragged Anissa from the phantom zone, followed closely by a watchful Ultron. “The gate we need to use is in the central city, but we can look around if you…”
“Straight to the gate, no sight seeing,” Ultron shook his head and motioned toward the surface. “Dan-EL has left standing orders that none but the civilians and forces of Krypton are permitted to walk freely.”
“You’re never any fun,” Goku pulled a face at the A.I. , before he turned a concerned gaze to Anissa. “Are you alright?”
Anissa’s face was white, drawn by her travel through what Goku called the phantom zone. She had spent what seemed like thousands of years in that empty place, yet these two acted as if all was well.
“What… do you always experience such terrible time dilation when you use your faster than light technology?” She placed her free hand onto her stomach, muscles clenched to keep whatever remained in her stomach in place. “Even with my thousands of years of life, that was extremely unpleasant.”
“The time dilation is only experienced when we jump without a larger vessel,” Ultron moved to usher the two toward the surface. “Now come, this is my main body… every second of mine that is wasted is a loss your feeble minds cannot comprehend.”
A brilliant flash drew their collective gaze toward the blue sun of Krypton. Two figures battled, locked in a vicious display of hand to hand combat. One figure was almost invisible, a void highlighted by the glow of the star. The other shone a brilliant blue, wrapped in flames that challenged the solar radiance around them.
“Look! Dan and Etrigan are sparring,” Goku hauled Anissa through empty space, on a course for the embattled pair. “He’s so much stronger than before…”
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A grunt forced its way past his lips, pushed out by the ink-black fist lodged in his gut. Dan lashed out with a knee that broke the barrier of light. Still not enough as Etrigan howled in joyous laughter.
“So much power, your time away has given you much!” Etrigan caught Dan’s knee with a single hand and turned the blow to the side. “But your combat skills are rusty, you’ve come to lean on speed as a crutch…”
Fists a blur, the Demon forced Dan back toward the star. Teeth ground tight, Dan pushed himself to the limit. Colour vanished as he pressed his entire body beyond lightspeed. His knuckles met Etrigan’s and widened the rhyming monster’s grin.
“Go as fast as you like, but you’re missing my point,” Etrigan’s form distorted around the edges, a flicker that planted a dozen blows on Dan from head to toe. “Such a strategy is easy to disjoint.”
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“How powerful are you,” Dan raised a hand to find blood on his lips, something he’d considered impossible. He could shift worlds like stones, even the stars themselves had begun to seem movable in his eyes. “For all my growth, our battle feels as one sided as ever… I thought I’d started to catch up before my trip?”
Etrigan laughed as his form blurred further, divided into a dozen afterimages. They surrounded Dan from all sides. Above, below, behind… each one as real to his senses as the rest.
“Strength is subjective, at least for something like me,” The many Etrigan’s lurched forward, a blizzard of attacks that Dan was forced to absorb. “Physical combat is a thing of physics, the lies of reality that keep mortals from being free.”
Dan roared, biofield expanded around him in a wave of flame. He called on Venom and fused their ki, a shift that turned the field midnight blue, flecked with the hint of stars. This fusion of lifeforce was his greatest trump card, a rush of energy that hummed along his bones.
“Kryptonian strength stands beyond physics,” Dan blitzed toward the smug face Demon, a dozen times faster than before. Space crackled… chipped and splintered as he pushed his way forward. “We can move universes with a single hand, force our way past the boundaries of reality with the might of our bodies alone!”
Etrigan just flashed his sharkish teeth and accelerated to match. Practised hands deflected Dan’s fists, while a knee connected with his jaw. The force split apart space, a flood of radioactive light that competed with the sun.
“Perhaps you’re right, but you’re not there yet,” Etrigan vanished from sight, his voice still clear in Dan’s mind. “Though I admit, you’ve forced me to break a sweat!”
Wreathed in ash-grey flame, a hand chopped down onto Dan’s neck. The blow seemed to force all the ki from his body, ripped free by hideous claws. Bright spots filled his vision with false stars, while his body refused to answer the call of his mind.
“Your Wife would have a better chance against me than you, if she gave it her all,” Etrigan spun Dan to face him and shook his head. “But even your magic has the potential to captivate and enthral.”
“Why would magic be more effective than ki,” Dan rolled his shoulders as his powerful vitality pushed away the temporary paralysis. “They’re both just energy, and ki works well enough to power my spells.”
“Rules… rules upon rules upon rules,” Etrigan sighed. “The laws of reality make all of us into fools…”
“Dan!!!” A familiar shout replaced the frown on Dan’s face with a smile. Goku rocketed toward them with the viltrumite woman in tow, followed by an aggravated Ultron. “Why are you so much stronger… never mind, let's have a quick match before I have to go!”
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“This is your Emperor?” Anissa’s gaze was locked on the battle between Dan and Goku, body adrift with the machine intelligence called Ultron at her side. She glanced at Etrigan, who sat in space as if it was solid ground. “Both him and that… thing are impossibly strong.”
“Indeed…” Ultron’s voice held a note of concern, as if it was surprised as well. “The energy levels Dan-EL was putting out were equivalent to a mid-sized star… though Etrigan’s power was undetectable as always, I estimate him to be approaching the strength of a singularity.”
Anissa shook her head as Goku launched a powerful wave of blue light, which Dan promptly defected into the abyss of intergalactic space. Even Goku was beyond most Viltrumites, though Thragg would likely win against the inexperienced youth. What future did her people have, if they stood against these people?
“Would Krypton accept defectors?” Anissa’s eyes widened as Dan battered Goku to within an inch of his life. Her Saiyan adversary fought valiantly, but it seemed as if the Emperor was determined to push him within an inch of death. “I think I could convince others, but we’d need to have certain concessions…”
“Concessions?” Ultron tilted his head and laughed, a short mechanical bark. “My Master is known for his relatively soft heart, he may grant you some of what you want… but if you join Krypton, be prepared to earn the majority of your freedoms with service.”
“Bad mouthing me, huh?” Dan-EL floated toward them, an unconscious Goku in one arm. “Don’t listen to this ungrateful machine, he’d be free a long time ago if he could manage his homicidal tendencies.”