Chapter 11
Goku dropped from the ring, sweat still dripping from his chin, but Kaiden's eyes never left him. He stared at Goku's tail, which was loose from the bandages.
For the first time in the tournament, he lost his composure. His jaw clenched, and lightning spread across his shoulders.
"Of course…" His voice was low, almost a growl. "It was you."
The crowd stirred, sensing the shift in the air. Even Johnny leaned forward from the infirmary door, eyes narrowing.
Kaiden took a step toward Goku. Then another. His hand flexed, fingers twitching like they wanted to close around someone's throat. The pressure in the courtyard spiked — heavy, electric, violent.
Goku blinked, still catching his breath. "…Kaiden?"
The sparks on Kaiden's cloak snapped louder. His teeth grit. His voice rose, sharp enough to cut through the courtyard.
"You—" Lightning cracked at his heel, blowing a crater in the tile. "You destroyed my home."
The silence was instant. Even the monks shifted in their robes.
Goku froze. His breath hitched, but words didn't come.
Kaiden's eyes were wide now — not the flat stare he always wore, but raw, seething fury. Rage he'd kept buried boiling to the surface in full. His ki lashed outward, shredding the air.
"I should kill you right now."
The crowd recoiled. Johnny's face paled. Even Zuki's smirk faltered.
Kaiden's hand lifted — lightning crawling between his fingers like a blade half-formed.
But before he could move, a voice cut in. Calm. Absolute.
"Enough."
King Kai's presence hit like a weight. He was suddenly between them, no sound of footsteps, just there. One hand raised, his ki pressing down over the courtyard, smothering Kaiden's fury like a lid on fire.
Kaiden's breath came fast through his teeth. His shoulders trembled. His ki still fought to surge, but King Kai's eyes — sharp, unblinking — held him in place.
"You'll face him," King Kai said evenly, "but not now."
The lightning on Kaiden's cloak snapped again, then dimmed to a simmer. His chest heaved. His jaw stayed clenched, but slowly, he lowered his hand.
King Kai's voice carried again, commanding the courtyard back to order.
"Next match." His gaze shifted. "Kaiden… versus Zuki."
The energy shifted again, but this time, not in relief. Anticipation.
Zuki's smirk returned, sharp and mocking. She flicked a ribbon from her sleeve like a whip. "Finally."
Kaiden's glare didn't move from Goku for a long moment. Then, without a word, he stepped into the ring.
Lightning still whispered along his shoulders.
The courtyard hadn't cooled from Goku's fight.
Kaiden stepped into the ring, sparks crawling across his shoulders. He didn't glance at the crowd, only at Zuki. He wasn't here to fight; he was here to prove something.
Zuki followed like she was walking onto a stage. Boots clicking. Coat swinging—ribbons trailing behind her in restless loops. Where Kaiden's ki bristled sharp and electric, hers stretched outward like silk pulled through the air, flowing.
She tilted her head, smirking.
"You ready to lose?"
Kaiden answered without hesitation.
"… I only need to use thirty percent of my power to defeat you."
The air bent. Its weight rolled outward in a wave, sparks leaping from tile to tile. Even the crowd felt the sudden pressure, the hairs on their arms rising. Kaiden's aura was a storm pressing in on all sides.
Zuki blinked once. Then she laughed, tossing her hair back.
"Thirty, huh? And you're bragging already? I'll make you regret saying that."
Her ribbons snapped to life, curling into the air and weaving in patterns too sharp and quick for the eye to follow. Her aura didn't crush down like his; it stretched and distorted, bending the light and making her figure blur at the edges.
King Kai raised his hand.
"Begin."
Threads lashed out instantly — dozens, thin as glass, sharp as blades.
Kaiden didn't dodge. He stepped forward. Sparks crackled down his arms, burning through the first wave before they touched him. The second he slipped past, his fist cocked back, lightning gathering at his knuckles.
The punch crashed against Zuki's guard, detonating in a crack of thunder. The impact blew her across the stone arena. She hit hard, caught herself on her palms, and rolled to her feet in a fluid whip of motion.
She grinned, though her arm trembled faintly from the block.
"Not bad. Guess you're not just an arrogant punk."
Kaiden's eyes didn't waver. Sparks crawled over his skin, snapping at the air.
"Gyros, right. You talk too much."
That jab hit. Zuki's smirk twitched. "Better than saying nothing. Are you too scared to open your mouth?!"
Kaiden tilted his head just slightly, his voice colder now.
"…You'll wish I stayed quiet."
He blurred forward again, lightning carving his outline into the ring.
The ring lit up with every step.
Kaiden blurred forward, lightning bursting at his heels. Zuki met him head-on, threads spiraling like blades in a storm. Their auras clashed — crackling arcs of white and blue against shifting bands of light that bent and twisted the air.
The sound alone rattled the tiles.
Kaiden's fist whipped through one illusion and struck true, only for Zuki to pivot, her coat flaring as she lashed a ribbon across his arm. The fabric hissed — not from the cut, but from how her ki warped space itself, slicing into his aura like a scalpel.
Kaiden didn't flinch. His other hand snapped up, catching the ribbon mid-swing. Sparks crawled down the length, burning it away in a flash.
Zuki's smirk didn't falter.
"Sharp, huh? Let's see how you handle this."
She spun — her boots dragging a circle across the stone. Threads erupted outward in a net, a dome of shifting lines that twisted around Kaiden. For a heartbeat, it looked like he was trapped.
Then his voice cut through.
"Weak."
The aura around him exploded.
Sparks tore through the dome like paper. The tiles cracked outward from the blast, and Zuki staggered back, shielding her face against the sheer force. The crowd roared in disbelief.
Kaiden lowered his stance again, lightning humming along his arms like living veins.
"You're wasting my time."
Zuki's grin stretched sharper, masking the heat rising under her skin.
"…Arrogant bastard."
Her eyes narrowed. She snapped her wrist, and the threads stiffened — not soft silk anymore but jagged lines of hardened ki, glowing at the edges. The ends sharpened into blades, scissoring through the air with a metallic shriek.
Kaiden blocked one slash with his forearm, sparks hissing where blade met aura. Another darted for his ribs, then another for his leg — fast, precise, meant to cut.
"My threads aren't just strings, spark-boy," Zuki said, her voice sharp. "They're anything I want them to be."
One thread split mid-strike into a dozen needles, scattering like shrapnel.
Kaiden blurred past most, but a few clipped his cloak, burning faint holes through the fabric. His aura sparked violently, forcing the rest away.
He frowned, eyes narrowing. "…A cheap trick."
Zuki's grin widened. "Tricky enough to make you bleed, if you're not careful."
Her ribbons recoiled, then whipped into the air again, weaving slower, heavier. They lingered above Kaiden like birds flying across the sky, warping the light around the ring. The air shimmered, bending like glass about to crack.
Kaiden narrowed his eyes.
He felt it.
Something latching onto him.
Zuki's voice dripped mock sweetness.
"Let's see how long you can keep that smug face… when you're not in the ring anymore."
The first illusion began to take shape.
It felt like his chest had been hooked and yanked. His breath hitched. The courtyard blurred.
And when he blinked—
He wasn't in the ring anymore.
The stone tiles were gone. Smoke choked the air. The ground was broken earth and rubble. Screams bled through the haze, and the acrid stench of burning wood scraped his throat raw.
Kaiden staggered once, his boots crunching over shattered glass. His eyes darted — left, right — and his stomach clenched. He knew this place.
Home.
Lightning crawled up his arms, frantic, not from control but from memory snapping open.
"—Kaiden!"
His head snapped toward the voice. Through the smoke, he saw him—his brother. Half-buried under a slab of collapsed roof, arm bloodied, face pale.
"Run!" the voice tore from his throat again, just like it had. "You have to—go!"
Kaiden's chest tightened. He tried to move — to tear the rubble away, to pull himself free — but his limbs felt heavy, his body sluggish, like he was drowning in tar.
"No… not again…" His teeth grit, sparks flying wild off his shoulders.
His eyes snapped, wide, furious. Lightning flared around him, but the scene didn't vanish. His brother still lay crushed. The screams still echoed.
The smoke thickened until Kaiden could hardly breathe. His brother's face swam in and out of the haze — pale, blood running down from his temple, half his body pinned beneath the collapsed roof.
"Kaiden…" his brother coughed, blood staining his lips. "Listen to me."
Kaiden dropped to his knees, hands clawing at the rubble, sparks flying with each desperate pull. "No! I can get you out, don't move, hold on—"
"Stop," his brother hissed, wincing. His hand shot out, grabbing Kaiden's wrist with a strength that didn't match his ruined body. "You can't. It's too late for me."
"Don't say that!" Kaiden's teeth grit, his aura flaring wildly, lightning burning the rubble black but never enough to lift it. His voice broke. "We'll both make it—just a little more—"
The ground shook. A low roar split the air, and in the distance, Kaiden saw the towering silhouette of an ape, its mouth glowing with gathering light.
The memory struck like a blade. Kaiden's chest tightened until he could barely breathe.
His brother's grip tightened on his wrist, forcing Kaiden to meet his eyes. "Kaiden… you've always been the fast one."
Kaiden froze, breath shaking. "…What are you saying?"
"You can run. You can live." A faint, pained smile crossed his brother's lips. "That's your gift. Not mine."
"No—no, I'm not leaving you!" Kaiden's voice cracked, lightning tearing wild arcs around him. His throat burned with the words. "We can fight it! We can—"
His brother's voice rose sharp and urgent, cutting through the beast's roar.
"Kaiden! Just run!"
The beam built in the ape's throat, the light growing until it blotted out the smoke.
Kaiden's brother's hand trembled, but his eyes never wavered. "You have to go."
The words shattered him. Every muscle screaming not to move—
Then the glow became blinding.
Kaiden's brother let go. "Keep running."
The beam tore through the town.
The sound drowned everything.
Kaiden's body moved before thought, lightning ripping through his veins, the world stretching into slow motion. He saw every frozen ember, every fragment of glass hanging in the air. He saw his brother's silhouette swallowed by light.
The town. Kaidens brother. They were all gone.
"Run, Kaiden!"
The words tore through his heart, dragging him back to the moment he'd buried deep inside. His chest heaved, sparks crawling frantically across his arms, but his body wouldn't move.
Zuki's laugh cut sharply through the haze.
"Pathetic. You couldn't even save your brother."
"Face it, you'll always be that same little boy — running away."
Kaiden's teeth grit. His brother's eyes swam into focus, dim but unyielding. The last thing he ever said.
"Fast is what you do best… just keep running."
Kaiden's breath broke. His hands trembled, lightning flaring uncontrollably. "No…"
Kaiden screamed not at Zuki but himself, the promise he made that night.
"I'M DONE RUNNING AWAY!"
The words tore from his throat in the ruins, and at the same instant, in the real courtyard.
His aura erupted. The air cracked open. Light surged, flooding the courtyard in silver arcs. Zuki's illusion shattered like a mirror under a hammer, shards of smoke and ribbon scattering into nothing.
When the smoke cleared, Kaiden stood in the ring again, his eyes glowing silver. Lightning wrapped around his body in a storm that bent the air. His cloak snapped in the current, every spark alive and sharp.
Godspeed.
The crowd reeled back from the shockwave. Johnny's mouth fell open. "Holy—"
King Kai's brows lifted, his calm veneer cracking for the first time.
Goku stared from the sidelines, wide-eyed.
Zuki gasped, clutching at her head as silver arcs ripped through her threads, unraveling them strand by strand. "No—NO!" she shrieked, staggering back as the fabric of her ki dissolved in the storm.
Kaiden lifted his head, his voice low, steady, carrying across the ring.
"I made my choice back then. I'm not running away anymore."
Zuki's ribbons lashed outward in a frenzy, hundreds at once, a storm of blades and shadows. Her face twisted with rage, her voice raw.
"I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU, KAIDEN!"
Her aura flared, threads splitting into whips, needles, blades — everything she could summon and force. The entire ring warped under the storm of her illusions.
But Kaiden was already gone.
Silver arcs flashed faster than the eye could follow. A lightning spear tore through one thread, then another, then another. Each strike split the air like thunder, shredding her web into ash.
From the courtyard walls, Johnny shouted over the roar.
"Kaiden's cutting straight through her illusions!"
Zuki screamed louder, her body shaking as more ribbons erupted from her coat. Her aura bled wild, unstable.
"I WON'T LOSE! I REFUSE TO BE BEATEN BY SOME—SOME COWARD!"
Kaiden's silver eyes didn't blink. His voice carried like a blade.
"You're the coward. Hiding behind illusion because you're afraid."
The words hit her harder than the lightning.
"No—SHUT UP!"
She threw everything at him — a final storm of blades so dense the air split.
Kaiden stepped through.
Not dodging, not running. Just moving. Each arc of silver cut her attacks apart before they could touch him.
Then came the spears.
One. Two. Five. Ten. Each one a blinding bolt, piercing her defenses, tearing her ribbons to shreds. They struck her ki directly, collapsing it piece by piece.
From the sidelines, one of the monks whispered, horrified.
"Zukis is reaching her limit. If this continues, she's gonna die."
Zuki staggered, blood slicking down her face, but her eyes were wild, burning red with defiance. Her aura sparked and crackled as if trying to pull itself back together, threads twisting violently around her like broken limbs trying to move.
Kaiden's storm raged around him, unflinching. Another spear formed in his hand, glowing brighter than the rest.
The courtyard shook as he hurled it.
It struck, piercing her chest.
Her body convulsed. Blood spilled from her lips. Yet her voice still rasped, hoarse, stubborn, breaking against death.
Her voice ripped from her throat in a snarl, breaking into madness.
"I'll kill you!"
Zuki staggered, blood slicking her chin, but her ribbons writhed like snakes, twitching violently as if they had wills of their own. Her aura split and flared in jagged bursts, each surge tearing more blood from her veins. The power wasn't lifting her anymore; it was eating her alive
From the sidelines, Johnny's eyes went wide, his voice breaking.
"She's going B-Berserker?"
King Kai's gaze sharpened.
"Zuki… stop!"
But she didn't hear.
"I'll kill you… I'll kill… kill… KILL YOU ALL!"
Zuki rasped, her voice breaking between rage and sobs. She clawed at her own face, hair wild, eyes burning red. The more she screamed, the more her threads twisted into grotesque shapes, jagged and broken, like her mind spilling into the arena.
Zuki stretched her arm toward Kaiden, trembling, every tendon straining, threads flaring wildly from her fingers. It was her last desperate reach, one last attack for victory.
A silver spear cut the air.
The spear struck. Lightning split her arm down the middle. Flesh, ki, and bone tore apart.
From the sidelines, Johnny's voice trembled.
"Zuki!"
Kaiden didn't move; he didn't gloat. His silver eyes glowed faintly through his aura. Expressionless, his presence felt colder.
The crowd froze. There was no cheering, no roaring, only shock.
Johnny tried to shove forward, his voice breaking, but Iroh caught his shoulder, shaking his head. Even he couldn't look directly at her body.
Even the monks who had trained their whole lives in calm discipline sat frozen.
And then Goku staggered forward.
He stared at Zukis' body, mangled and broken across the arena floor, the blood pooling fast beneath her. His hands shook. His breath caught in his chest.
"…Zuki…"
Then his voice broke into a scream, raw and shattering, echoing against the temple's stone walls.
"ZUUUUUUUUUKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!"
The scream ripped through the courtyard, shaking the temple walls, drowning the crowd into silence. It was rage, fury, a howl that seemed to claw the sky itself open.
Kaiden didn't flinch. His storm raged on, cloak snapping in the wind. His glowing eyes lifted slowly, locking on Goku's across the ruined ring.
Two presences dominated the ring now.
The air between them bent, heavy enough that the audience could feel their bones vibrate.
King Kai broke the silence, his voice heavy like stone.
"…The final match. Goku vs Kaiden."