Content Warning: References/Minor depictions of sexual abuse (some with minors) and assault, self-harm, mutilation and content some readers may find disturbing are present in this chapter.

Normally, I wouldn't do this, I know you come here to read about battles and have fun, but this is the one time I'd say if you aren't comfortable with certain topics mentioned above, feel free to skip this chapter. I know part of my battles include deeper expansions on scenes from shows, so keep that in mind, as well as the fact that the story is rated 'M'. I tried to find a balance, I hope you understand.

Again, I know this is DEATH BATTLE and it's not meant to be family-friendly, but this one is something else. I'm only doing this chapter because it was second place in the last reader's choice poll (thanks for voting BTW). So, you have been warned!

One last thing, don't feel like you made me write something I didn't want to. I was gonna get to this fight on the sooner rather than later side, but regardless, I feel this warning is justified.

Also, bit of story before the battle, have fun!

"…Botamo fell off the ring!"

The loud cheers from Universe Seven echoes throughout the ring as the first fight came to an end. Despite the uncertainty during the first half of the fight, Goku (remarkably) thought and fought logically, and succeeded in defeating the first rival from Universe Six.

"Hrgh… damn you…" Champa scowled, his eye twitching aggressively. He looked over to his fighters and nodded to one of them, nodding. The Friza-looking fighter stood up and approached the ring.

"Up next, Son Goku will fight Universe Six's hero, Frost!" The announcer declared as the second fighter entered the ring.

"Oh… this could be bad…" Krillin muttered, seeing Frost for the first time, and immediately remembering many, many bad memories. The tension seemed to emanate through a good chunk of Universe Seven's fighters.

Goku looked down, trying his best not to show his confusion about fighting another Frieza, and Roshi looked to Skorch, who seemed to be grinning mischievously. It was quiet, and no one knew what was going to break that silence…

"Nice to meet you!" Frost suddenly said, extending his hand to Goku. The Sayian was taken aback, but then smiled.

"Yeah! Nice to meet you too!" He replied, shaking his hand.

"Let's do our best!" Frost nodded. By now, some of the fighters looked to Skorch, who tried to hold back laughter, but then burst out laughing.

"I'm sorry… Oh geez… I'm sorry…" He laughed. "The… the looks on your faces! That was so worth it!"

"Sorry, who is he?" Bulma asked, confused.

"Frost is one of Universe Six's greatest heroes." Skorch explained.

The battle began shortly after, and it was fast and frantic. Goku and Frost both traded blow-for-blow as they fought, striking one another and dodging the other's attacks. Every time one of them successfully hit their opponent, the latter had some tactic that wasn't expected.

"Hm. Neither one of them are using their full strength…" Whis mused.

"Why? Just get it over with!" Beerus grumbled.

However, as the fight continued, things didn't go as expected. Frost and Goku both went into their stronger forms, continuing to trade strike-for-strike, sometimes moving so quickly none of those present could even see them! More than a few times Frost seemed to come close to being knocked out of the ring, but he always pulled himself back up and kept going… until he struck Goku, and sent him flying into a wall.

"…!?" Goku winced, hitting the wall and feeling drained. His Super Sayian form, his energy, all of it was gone, and he fell face first to the ground, outside of the ring. The shock was like a bolt of lighting struck the crowd and paralyzed them in fear. How…what!?

"What just happened?!" Krillin exclaimed.

"That… that's not possible…" Piccolo muttered, his brow furrowing. "Goku couldn't just be beaten like that! What kind of powers does Frost have!?"

"Agh… what happened?" Goku groaned pulling himself up. "Did… did I lose?"

Beerus stared mouth agape for a second, then his eyes narrowed and he scowled in the way that usually meant a planet was about to be destroyed. The next fight began as he glared daggers at his brother. However, one loss didn't mean they were in any real trouble…

Two, however?

"Piccolo has been knocked out of the ring! The winner is Frost!"

"WHAT!?"

No one from Universe Seven could explain what had just happened, well, no one except someone who wasn't able to say anything about it… Regardless, that wasn't to stop a God of Destruction from laying down a God of Destruction-sized ass-whopping on the Entity if he didn't talk. Everyone else just tried to figure out how Piccolo and Goku had been so soundly defeated, was Frost really that strong? Did Universe Six have some sort of uber-power that they didn't know about? They certainly were skilled, as Frost was able to keep up and surpass Goku and Piccolo's speeds somewhat. But he didn't seem like he outmatched them in every regard…

"TALK." Beerus demanded, grabbing Skorch and pulling him close. "TALK NOW OR BY THE NAME OF THE GODS THEMSELVES I WILL GRIND YOUR BONES TO-

"YOU ARE IN NO POSITION TO MAKE DEMANDS FROM ME!" Skorch suddenly roared, fueled by an anger no one had ever seen. His body was consumed by a black-and-blue fire, and Beerus let go and backed up in genuine surprise. There was an air of absolute power that no one could understand, and it was clear that Skorch was beyond pissed… which made no sense. "YOU STAND BEFORE THE ONE WHO HOLDS THESE WORLDS IN HIS HANDS AND COULD CAST THEM INTO THE VOID, AND YOU HAVE THE BALLS TO DEMAND I BOW TO YOU!?"

"The hell is he talking about?" Tien muttered. "He's some sort of God?!"

"No, at least, I don't think so…" Roshi mused. The anger and fire dying down, Skorch changed back into… his… human form?

"Do not let your own pride get the better of you Beerus." He spoke, now in a much deeper, serious tone. "Such is a poison which will infect your mind, your veins…"

Skorch winked.

No one understood what he was getting at though.

No one, except Jaco…

"OBJECTION!" He shouted, getting everyone's attention. "Frost is using a concealed weapon!"

Everyone's jaws dropped, and then realization dawned on a few of them. It took a few minutes, but to everyone's shock (and Champa's fury) it turned out that Frost did have a concealed weapon, one which he had been using to poison his rivals… The Galactic Patrolman had a ninety-nine-point-nine percent feeling that this was true, but Skorch's riddle cemented his suspicion. Needless to say, they weren't to happy about this. Eventually, Piccolo's loss was overturned, and he was back in the fight.

"Alright." Beerus said, appearing in front the referee. "Here's what's going to happen. Goku was stabbed too, so his loss is nullified."

"I…uh…" The referee stammered. "I didn't see that before…What do you want us to do abo-"

"SKORCH! Get your ass down here!" Beerus shouted, not taking 'no' for an answer and this time, Skorch complied. "Either Goku's loss is undone, or Skorch takes his place."

"What?" Was asked by a few.

"No, no… that shouldn't be an issue." The ref shook his head. "Besides, if Piccolo's loss is nullified because of Frost's tactics, Goku's would be as well."

"Good." The God nodded.

"Look, we need a few minutes to figure some stuff out." The ref said, looking from Beerus to Champa. "I think it's best for all parties that you two don't leave one another's side."

"WHAT!?" The brothers shouted in anger and disbelief, clearly NOT wanting to have that happen.

"Until we clear some stuff up, there's the possibility for more weapon concealment, while this is nothing personal against either of you, it's simply a precaution to ensure the credibility of the tournament."

The two bothers scowled, bearing their teeth at one another, and Vados and Whis looked to one another, knowing that this was going to be a long break-time meeting.

"…so, Frost cheated? Aww…" Goku frowned. "I liked him."

"Admittedly… yeah." Piccolo nodded. "He was a good fighter; too bad he fought the way he did."

"Heh, poison or not it won't be a long fight when I'm through with him." Vegeta smirked, looking forward to the fight when things got back to the tourney. He was disappointed he didn't get to fight now, and annoyed at how things seemed to be working against him by some unseen force, but he knew there was nothing he could do. The group met up and felt uneasy. It was hard to say exactly what they all thought about their current situation, but it wasn't helped that now both Beerus and Champa were forced to stay with them.

"So now what?" Goku asked, finally breaking the silence.

"…" There was a collective silence as no one really had any good ideas, so naturally, Roshi recommended the go-to thing to avoid having to socially interact with people.

"Next episode of Death Battle?"

"What?" Champa asked, confused.

"It's this show where fighters are put against one another, and they fight until one of them is dead, Lord Champa." Piccolo said, before adding the title afterwards to avoid angering the God.

"This is how your warriors train? By sitting around watching a cartoon?!" Champa remarked, laughing as he looked to Beerus.

"Well, they have soundly kicked your challenger's asses, until you decided to cheat so maybe they'd benefit form the knowledge my fighters have gained from it." Beerus remarked slyly, before pausing and then adding: "Those were a lot of big words, let me simplify it. *ahem* You're an idiot and your fighters are pathetic."

Champa seemed pissed by his brother's statement, but there really wasn't much he could do. And besides, if this show helped his fighters, then Champa reasoned it might do the same for the warriors of Universe Six.

"…fine." Champa scowled. "It's someone fighting something…"

"All right! This one looks awesome!" Trunks exclaimed, remembering the preview form the last episode.

"Hahaha, NO." Skorch said, his eyes narrowing as he fake-laughed. "This one is way, WAY too dark for you two to watch. This isn't up for debate."

"But-"

"NO."

"So now you're making our life choices?" Trunks asked, genuinely angry with the Entity for the first time since they met. Skorch seemed like the kind of guy who said 'Yes' when everyone else said 'No'.

"Skorch, what's so wrong with-" Bulma began, but Skorch looked to her, and she stopped, then nodded. Putting his hand onto her face, he effectively flashed some 'highlights' through her head. Needless to say, when he was done five seconds later, her face said it all.

"There… is not a chance in hell… you two are watching that. EVER." She breathed shakily. It still didn't seem like a good enough reason to Goten or Trunks, and it was clear they were going to protest regardless.

"Hey." The entity remarked. "I'll make you two a deal. You skip this battle, and you two can come dimension jump with me for a bit."

"Really? Dimension jumping?" Goten asked, seeming intrigued by the offer.

"Yeah, jump a few dimensions, see other worlds, screw with people, check out that Popeye's Chicken sandwich everyone is losing their shit over, stuff like that."

Goten looked to Trunks, who clearly didn't like being told he was too young to watch something like he was a four-year-old, but he finally relented and nodded. Chi-Chi was going to ask what he was getting at, but Bulma shook her head, and she decided that if Bulma seemed that upset, then it was probably better not knowing what she had seen. Unbeknownst to both, Skorch had the decency to censor some of the imagery…

"If you're looking for something to take your mind off of it, I'd be more than happy to answer some of your questions concerning the levels of dimensions." Genevieve remarked, having made her way back to the commons area when she heard Skorch go ballistic. Her offer was greatly appreciated, and most of the women and a few of the men, left with her. Meanwhile, Skorch opened a portal on the floor and back-flipped into it. Because he can't do anything normally.

"Let's goooooooo!" he cheered as he fell, Goten jumping in after him, followed by Trunks.

"Should we have been concerned about what he might be doing with them?" Goku asked, suddenly realizing something.

"They should be fine." Piccolo shrugged, noticing a few of the Universe Six fighters (Frost, Cabba, and the silent one), had made their way over somewhat awkwardly, to see what was going on.

(*Cues: Invader - Jim Johnston*)

"For untold decades, scientists have searched for a legitimate method of measuring a person's level of badassery, yet for all their studies and formulas, they routinely and completely miss the obvious answer." Wiz began as a blonde-haired man with a giant sword was shown driving across a highway, followed by an unsettling giant of a man with a metallic pyramid-shaped head, who carried a sword longer and deadlier than any sword the fighters had seen before.

"Check out the size of his sword!" Boomstick added.

"Nice." Roshi nodded.

"Like Guts, the brutal black swordsman from Berserk." Boomstick continued as a one-eyed man took a fighting stance, holding a massive sword that was impossibly large.

"And Nightmare, the demonic sword-scourge from Soul Calibur." Wiz added as what looked like a knight with twisted demonic armor picked up a large sword with an eye in the center of it. A few of the fighters felt somewhat unnerved by how he looked.

"Nightmare, what an original name…" Champa muttered.

"He's Wiz and I'm Boomstick!"

"And it's our job to analyze their weapons, armor, and skills to find out who would win... a Death Battle!"

The doors closed and then re-opened. The scene showed a burning land, and a single figure walked into the view. The camera slowly panned up, showing the man who appeared, clad in a cloak adorned with dozens of blades, this was unmistakeably the Black Sowrdsman.

"In the ancient realm of Midland, mortifying rumors run rampant of a man wielding a humongous blade slaying any that get in his way." Wiz began, and that alone got Beerus' attention. "But before his legend grew, this black swordsman was a mere man, known simply as Guts."

BACKGROUND

Height: 6'3" / 190.5 cm

Weight: 230 lbs. / 104.3 kg

A.K.A. The Black Swordsman (A few of the fighters thought that was a badass name)

Occupation: Mercenary and Demon Exterminator

Mentors: Gambino, Griffith, Godo

Branded Sacrifice to Femto ("I feel like there's a long story to that…" Vegeta muttered, having a bad feeling in his gut for some reason.)

Former Hawk's Raiders Commander

Trained to Fight Since the Age of 6

Killed His First Man at the Age of 9 (That shocked a number of the fighters.)

Hates the Weak

"He's been killing people since he was nine?!" Cabba exclaimed. Sure, he knew training at a young age was nothing new to the group he was with, but killing someone before he was even a teenager?

"Oh ho, man, I'm so excited!" Boomstick exclaimed. "Guts is one of the most badass and hardcore characters EVER!"

Yelling in anger, Guts swung a smaller sword, it connected with a spiked ball on a flail, and proceeded to shatter said flail into pieces, before continuing onwards and decapitating the attacker.

"Eh, not bad." Vegeta shrugged.

(*Cues: Berserk - Boscorn 2*)

"But just a heads up, the story of Guts is not for the faint of heart… or stomach." Wiz stated in the utmost seriousness.

"Yeah, it's... kind of dark. You've been warned." Boomstick agreed.

"Bah, your kind believes everything to be horrific and dark. He's a mere man, how horrific could this be?" Beerus snarked, rolling his eyes. Frost just raised a brow, not sure what to expect.

"After a brutal massacre, Guts was born from the corpse of his mother, who had been hanged from a tree." Wiz began as a bloody baby was shown crying on the ground, under the corpse of a woman hung by her neck, beaten and covered in blood.

"…!" Beerus snapped back to the screen, unsure if he had heard that correctly. As did everyone else.

"Okay, I think I know why Skorch didn't want Goten here…" Goku muttered, beyond disgusted by what he saw.

"And we're just getting started…" Boomstick added. "Baby Guts was discovered by a traveling band of mercenaries and was adopted by the camp whore. Wonder if she named him 'Guts' in a sense of irony…"

"She'll be dead in ten seconds." Vegeta said flatly.

"Why would you say that?" Cabba asked, bewildered.

"It's the way these stories go." The Prince shrugged.

"Who... died of the plague three years later." Wiz said, confirming Vegeta's suspicion. "Knowing he would most likely die on his own, Guts was mentored and pseudo-adopted by the mercenary leader Gambino. The brutal, violent man began training him in swordsmanship when he was just six years old."

A little Guts was struggling to hold a regular-sized sword up, but managed to block one of Gambino's attacks.

"Hey Guts! Why don't you use a smaller sword? One right for your size?" A man laughed as he drank, watching the attempt at a fight.

The large man then kneed him in the gut, kicking him to the ground.

"We don't carry any baby-sized swords for kids here anyway." He snarked. Guts pulled himself up and held up the sword once more, clearly not willing to give up.

"As brutal as it may be, training from a young age is probably the best thing that can happen to him." Vegeta reasoned. "Be beaten now, grow up knowing how to be victorious, and he'd be able to use a sword as an extension of his own body if he's been training for years."

"Vegeta has a point." Piccolo nodded. "Gambino might not be a nice father figure, but considering how Guts was born, I doubt compassion is something he knows an awful lot about."

(*Cues: Unknown Theme*)

"An extremely talented and determined student of war, Guts was soon brought on to the battlefield and killed his first man at the age of nine." Wiz noted as Guts rolled out of the way and swung his blade upwards, it seemed to mis a man's helmet… until the front half of the helmet slid off, along with face, bone, and everything else. What was left of the brain, tongue and teeth visible.

"Oof. That's some Scorpion stuff right there." Roshi nodded.

"Who?" Frost asked.

"Despite his skill, life wasn't all murder sunshine and rainbows. Young Guts was constantly abused in many ways that I don't really want to go into. But yes, it is exactly what you're thinking, and much worse."

"You were sold to me… by Gambino…" A voice whispered as a somewhat older Guts was shown tied down with tears in his eyes. He was bound and gagged, and it was disturbingly clear where this was going. "So… stop crying…"

"Holy… holy shit." Goku breathed, mortified by what he just witnessed, Vegeta was disgusted and Cabba felt like he was going to throw up.

"That might be one of the most horrific things I've ever seen." Frost said, his eyes betraying his stoic demeanor.

Out of the corner of their eyes, Beerus and Champa noted that the other was trying to show no reaction, but were both taken aback by what was just said. But neither one showed it, as if this was some challenge.

"Normally I'm not one for revenge, but I really hope Guts kills Gambino. Slowly." Krillin remarked, seeming uncharacteristically angry.

"Agreed." Vegeta seethed.

"Most likely because of these awful things he was forced to endure, it kickstarted the long and excruciating process of grooming Guts into the scariest freaking man in the world." Boomstick added as Guts cleaved a man in two with his sword.

(*Cues: Berserk - More Death and Silence 2*)

"After killing his crazed adopted father in self-defense-" Wiz began.

"Good." Was collectively muttered.

"-Guts became a lone mercenary and a damn good one. By that, I mean anyone who he was contracted to hunt down had at most, three days to live." Wiz continued as Guts flew down and drove his sword into a man's head, cleaving it and making one of the eyes pop out. "Recognized for his skill, he was recruited by a mercenary group called the Band of the Hawk, led by an ambitious man named Griffith."

A man with long greenish blue hair appeared, brandishing what looked like a simple rapier. He honestly seemed much more feminine than masculine, and this left a few of the fighters confused.

"From now on, he's a member of the Hawk's!" Griffith declared as everyone else cheered.

"Okay… who is he why should we care?" Champ asked rhetorically.

"That's a dude?" Goku asked.

"Griffith was essentially Guts' foil, while Guts was fast, brutal and relentless, Griffith was calm, collected and strategic. He led the Hawk's Raiders through countless battles, always bringing his followers to victory, or dying alongside them in the battle."

"The Hawk's Raiders would be Guts' first taste of comradery and friendship, for the first time in his life, Guts knew what it was like to have someone who cared about you. Y'know, aside from his mother, but that's not the point." Wiz continued. "Training with them, living with them, and fighting with them, Guts became an invaluable member of their team."

"You're reckless, you let you anger guide you." A woman remarked as she jumped back from an attack Guts performed. The pair clashed several times, but it was clear this was in fun. "You'll get yourself killed if you keep doing that!"

"If it works." Guts replied with a smirk, catching the hills of her blade and twisting it out of her hands. The sword clattered to the ground, and the woman gave him an annoyed look.

"She's hot." Roshi remarked.

"At least he seems like a strong-willed leader." Frost remarked. "He might. Be the only thing keeping Guts from becoming a mindless serial killer…"

"Over the next three years, they single-handedly ended a one-hundred-year war. Things were looking up for Guts." Boomstick began.

"It's about to crash and burn, ain't it?" Krillin asked.

"Aaaand… then Griffith turned out to be batshit insane, summoned a horde of demons, transformed into a bat monster, and performed a ritual called 'Eclipse' and uh… it's not pretty…"

For some reason, the Sayians felt a stronger urge to look away than they had ever felt. They ignored it, but it felt like something or someone was trying to warn them…

On screen, there was an inhuman shriek, and the walls of a cave transformed into faces. All around the Band of the Hawks, things kept shifting. It seemed like the very fabric of reality was shifting. Then, they appeared… Monsters so horrific and vile that mere words could not describe their twisted visage. A creature so foul that even the devil himself would shudder in fear… monsters with inhuman heads, separate bodies growing off of them like a Siamese twin, creatures with massive horns, plant-like monsters which were made of flesh rather than plant, a beast whose whole head was covered in eyes amalgamations that were more teeth than flesh… and those were the ones that they remembered.

The Band of the Hawks took stances to fight… but the fight never happened. It was a slaughter.

Limbs, organs and chunks of flesh flew around the twisted hall as the monsters tore into the mercenaries with reckless abode. The horrified screams of death were the kind of thing that should a man hear it in real life, he would be scarred in a way that would never heal, and he could never explain.

"Is… this.. hell?" The young woman from before quietly whispered, frozen in terror at the sea of beasts that surrounded her.

"If not, I really don't want to see what their hell is…" Tien stated, and everyone agreed without a second thought.

Guts cleaved his way through the beasts with a broken piece of horn the best he could, but it was clear even he was being overwhelmed at this point. A creature backhanded him, and he yelled in anger and pain as he fell, crashing into what looks like a pool, but was also clearly not water…

"GAH… Isn't… isn't anyone still alive!?" Guts exclaimed, seeming truly horrified for the first time in his life. "Pippin?! Judeau!? Corkus?! Cas-" He began with the last name but roared in pain as a wall opened its mouth and bit down on his arm, keeping him where he was. As Guts looked up in horror, everyone saw the young woman, now suspended in the air. By this point, even the Gods of Destruction wanted to ask what the actual hell was happening, another figure, this one… much more human, descended. Its helmet seemed like that of Griffith's, and he came to a gentle stop behind Casca.

"No…" Vegeta growled.

"They're… they're really gonna do this?" Hercule asked, feeling close to vomiting. Granted, he had been queasy the whole episode, but this was something else.

"I don't… how do you…" Goku was at a loss for words, anger and disbelief fighting for control of his body. It had taken him a few seconds longer than everyone else, but he realized what was happening.

"What's going on?" Cabba asked.

"Griffith?" Casca weakly asked. "What are you-"

Needless to say, the next minute and a half was honestly one of the most disturbing things anyone had witnessed. To the Sayians, fighting, killing, death and monsters was just a Tuesday. To the gods of Destruction, they literally destroyed worlds so death, torture, pain and all that meant nothing to them for the most part. But what they watched… broke everyone. No one could stop it, no one could mute the video, they were stuck as if in a trance, watching the events unfold on screen. It would almost be funny if it wasn't so horrific… and the thing that really got to them, was that they didn't even know this woman's name. But the events unfolding hurt some of them as if she was someone close to them, and they had known her their entire lives. Honestly, it was the depravity of it all which felt like a blade to the chest.

To Goku, his life was one of fighting, but he always had an optimistic view of things. Sure, that might sometimes make things much worse, but at the same time, he meant well. This was something he couldn't have thought up on his worst day in his worst mindset.

To Vegeta, violence, torture and the rest was something he didn't like, but was unfortunately used to. But… and he couldn't believe he was admitting to this… FRIZA treated his own men better. Even those he conquered and killed he treated better than this!

Krillin felt pain over the thought of being unable to do something to help his wife, or his daughter. To see Guts clearly in so much pain, but unable to do anything about it… that idea, that feeling of helplessness stung, and stung deep.

Universe Six's fighters weren't fairing much better. Cabba was absolutely mortified by what he just saw, regardless of it being 'real' or just a cartoon, it was something so… wrong. Frost was horrified that someone who had appeared to fight to help others would sink to such levels, and he fully acknowledged that technically had had been a hero who had done wrong in the fight.

Even the one who hadn't spoken a word since they arrived, Hit, who had slept through some of the fights beforehand, just sat there in disgusted silence. That's all it was. Disgust.

Finally, the silence that followed was broken by someone whispering three words:

"What…the…fuck…"

Then, someone spoke louder.

"What…was…that…"

And then, everything broke.

"WHAT IN THE UNHOLY NAME OF SHENRON'S DRAGON BALLS WAS THAT!?"

"When we're done here. We get Skorch, we find this bastard, WE KILL HIM." Vegeta scowled, veins throbbing on his forehead.

"Are they, all right?" Bulma asked, hearing the angered yells from across the stadium.

"Which battle were they on?" Akira asked.

"Something… guts?"

"Oh." The Clan Leader mused, then his eyes widened as he realized something. "Oh…"

"Should we be concerned?"

"No. Just… let them get it out." He muttered. "Trust me, you're all much better off not seeing what they're seeing."

"I…no. I need a minute." Hercule muttered, getting up and leaving. Roshi lay on his back and just stared off into space, Vegeta seethed and left to go punch something, returning a moment later, Krillin went to check on his wife and daughter, and Champa and Beerus looked to one another, the attempts at hiding their genuine disgust and shock failing.

"I don't care what you say…" Champa muttered. "I don't care if you think it's weak to admit to this. That… might be the most disturbing thing I have ever witnessed."

"For once Champa… we are in agreement." Beerus muttered. He didn't feel compassion, just disgust, and anger.

Thankfully, Tien had hit pause by now, and everyone dispersed for a few minutes. When they returned, then all nodded, as if wordlessly agreeing on something.

"Not to change the subject, but didn't Guts have a giant sword?" Goku asked.

"Hey, you're right…" Roshi mused. "I'm interested in that thing…"

"You fight with swords?" Yamcha asked, surprised.

"Nah, but having that thing hanging on a wall, that would be awesome! It's also be a convenient bottle opener."

"Of course, you'd think of using it for that." Krillin rolled his eyes, then added: "And I know. You don't need to make the joke that I'm too short to use it. I know."

"I think the handle is taller than you." Goku remarked nonetheless.

"Thanks for your continued support, Goku."

"In doing so, Griffith murdered all of Guts' and his own, friends, and claimed ownership of Guts' soul by branding his neck. If that wasn't dramatic enough, Griffith then raped Guts' girlfriend in the pool of his friends' blood as he watched, pinned down with his eye gouged out and being forced to cut off his own arm to survive." Boomstick concluded with his little explanation.

"Ugh…"

"If Griffith is so brutal in dispatching Guts' friends, I very much would like to see how Griffith meets his end." Beerus mused with a devious grin, then a portal opened and Skorch hung upside-down from it.

"Yer gonna have to keep waitin' B." Skorch remarked, getting everyone's attention. "Thirty-one years, nearly four hundred chapters, and he's still around."

"…that Is horse crap." Beerus remarked with a frown.

"Eh, well, Berserk's coming back from its seventy-eighth hiatus or however many there've been… so maybe he'll die this time." And just like that, Skorch was gone. "Popeye's here we come!"

"Definitely not his best day." Wiz remarked.

"No… you don't say?" Hit muttered sarcastically, speaking for the first time since he got here.

"After all that, Guts dedicated his entire life to the completely reasonable and understandable goal of murdering Griffith as painfully and brutally as possible. All the while, he found himself sharing hobbies with the Doom Slayer, namely fighting demons on a daily basis as they are drawn to his brand like moths to a flame."

Whis and Vados had come by to see what everyone had been so agitated over, and having heard Boomstick's long and short of it, they completely understood. But when the words 'Doom Slayer' were mentioned, they looked to one another in surprise.

"You don't think…" Whis mused.

"Actually, I do." Vados nodded.

(*Cues: Berserk - Blood and Guts (Passionate)*)

"But to do this, he needs the right tools for the job. He carries a belt of throwing knives and a pouch of mini bombs even demons can't take, and just look cool!"

ARSENAL

MECHANICAL HAND

Cannon Arm

Repeater Crossbow

Flame Gun

Magnetized to Better Grip Sword

MINIATURE BOMBS

Explosive Radius: 15 ft / 4.6 m

Approx. the Size of a Golf Ball

Spiked for Sticking to Foes

THROWING KNIVES

SHORT DAGGER

BERSERKER ARMOR

Cuts off the Wearer's Nervous System ("Hold on, what!?" Piccolo exclaimed.)

Holds the Wearer Together… Painfully

Destroys the Wearer's Sense of Mortality

"Why would anyone wear that armor?!" Cabba asked, reading what the Berserker Armor did to whoever wore it. "If it cuts off your nerves, it doesn't mean you won't be hurt, right?"

"Most likely you won't feel pain, but you'd still be damaged by attacks." Tien reasoned. "I can see the benefits, but that also seems recklessly dangerous."

"Seems like Guts in a nutshell." Champa remarked, thinking he should've gotten Guts to fight for him.

"He also received a new mechanical hand, in medieval times. Don't question it. His new robo-hand houses a flamethrower, repeater crossbow, and a hidden single-shot cannon, perfect for blasting a demon's face off."

A demon hissed and lunged towards Guts, who held his hand up, and the demon's head exploded in a gory mess.

"Surprise, bitch!" Boomstick shouted.

"Not that I wanna lose an arm, but having an arm that has weapons in it sounds like it'd be pretty interesting." Goku remarked.

"It happened to a friend of mine, it's not worth the benefits." Mad Dawg remarked, briefly appearing, then jumping into another portal, leaving everyone confused as to what just happened.

"But none of those weapons compare to Guts' primary tool of inflicting death and destruction." Wiz continued as Guts picked up the massive sword seen earlier. "The giant blade known as the Dragonslayer."

(*Cues: Berserk - Forces (God Hand Mix)*)

Bringing the massive sword down, Guts cut a goblin in half, spraying a mass of entrails and blood all over the tavern walls. His sword smashed through a table like a sledgehammer, digging into the stone flooring and digging in deep.

"Massive, thick, heavy, and far too rough, just the way I like it…" Boomstick said, almost seeming aroused. "It's too big to be called a sword. More like a heap of raw iron used to slaughter one's enemies. And it might just be the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."

"That is the most impractical weapon I have ever seen." Beerus blinked. "But at the same time, I respect it's ferocious size."

Roshi and Krillin looked to one another, knowing what the other was thinking, and high-fived.

DRAGONSLAYER

Length: 6'6" / 198 cm

Weight: Approx. 400 lbs. / 180 kg. ("…wow…" Yamcha blinked, not feeling inadequate, but questioning how anyone who wasn't super-human could even lift that thing.)

Forged by Godo, Legendary Helmet Weapon Smith

Made of Steel, Yet is Somehow Stronger Than Steel ("I'm going to assume this is a 'because anime' thing." Hercule remarked.)

Resides in Both the Physical and Astral Planes of Existence Simultaneously, Capable of Killing Foes on Both Planes

The Only Thing that Might Come Close to Being Something Guts Loves More Than Casca

"Forged by the legendary hermit Godo, Dragonslayer was made to... well... slay a dragon." Wiz explained. "Unfortunately, it was laughed off as its massive size and weight made it impossible to use by anyone…"

"Except for Guts! Why? Because he is that pissed off at Griffith, that he decided this was the best weapon for revenge! This guy, is an absolute legend!"

"Eh, using a blade that large doesn't seem impossible." Vegeta scoffed.

"I think controlling it would be the real issue." Piccolo reasoned. "That much momentum and force moving in one direction would be hard to stop, especially if you're at the end of it."

"Standing six and a half feet long and weighing over 400 pounds, the Dragonslayer is enormous. Though not unfeasible." Wiz explained as a giant sword was shown that was taller than an average-sized man. "In real life, the largest sword ever used in battle belonged to a Frisian freedom fighter and stood seven feet tall. Though it wasn't nearly as heavy, only 14 pounds. Another sword of similar caliber was used by the Dutch rebel leader pirate Grutte Pier who was 7ft himself used a great sword of 7ft in battle, it weighed 14.6lb and he wielded it with such skill that he could decapitate multiple people with a single blow."

"Looking past the unusual design, how hard would that thing be to carry?" Yamcha asked. "If you're trying to ride somewhere and there's a seven-foot sword hanging on your side, it's probably gonna get caught on something…"

"Guess that's why there aren't many of em'." Roshi shrugged.

"With a single swing of Dragonslayer, Guts can cleave through a man wearing heavy armor. Along with his weapon, his horse, and any other people, animals, demons or anything that happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time." Boomstick said as Guts proceeded to slash a man and his horse in two with a single swing. "But don't think its unstoppable, certain types of armor can resist a few blows from the Dragonslayer before they end up sending whoever was wearing them to permanent time-out."

"Sure, but I doubt armor will do much after two or three strikes…" Goku muttered.

"Also, while it hasn't happened, it's believed that Dragonslayer CAN be broken." Wiz reasoned. "But a popular fan theory as to why that hasn't happened yet is that 'The day the Dragonslayer is broken is the day Guts dies. It's the physical embodiment of his struggle and all the weight of his burdens he carries with him. When it breaks I truly believe it will be the sign that his struggle is at its end.'" *

"Actually, yeah. That makes sense." Beerus muttered. "After so much death and slaughter, when his journey is done, there is no longer any need for the blade. Also, since Dragonslayer seems to be his defacto weapon, should it break, most likely someone strong enough to do that would also kill Guts in the same stroke…"

"And as if this blade couldn't get even more extreme, after killing over a thousand demons - no, I did not stutter - Dragonslayer has bathed in so much demonic blood that it now resides in both the physical and astral planes of existence... somehow. Meaning it is capable of harming any and all supernatural beings, regardless of their location or enchants against mortal weapons."

"A thousand kills with one sword?" Champa remarked, seeming almost surprised. "For a human, he has some skill."

"Even ghooooosts!" Boomstick said with a cartoonishly-spooky flair. "But yeah, this thing can kill what's already dead. Double Dead Demon Action!"

"Sure, why not?" Tien asked.

(*Cues: Unknown Theme*)

"Guts is an absolute monster in combat, living up to his legacy of terror. He can move faster than the eye can track, slaughtered one hundred soldiers on his own in a single night, has fought off monsters like Zodd and Grunbeld, and once jumped into the mouth of a giant sea god, cut his way through it, and killed it within."

FEATS

Slew 100 Men by Himself in a Single Night (That impressed some of the fighters)

Survived Combat Against Nosferatu Zodd

Shattered Grunbeld's Shield (They assumed that was something impressive)

Caught Grunbeld's Dragon Tail Swing

Has Killed Well Over 1,000 Enemies

Survived Countless Lethal Wounds… By Effectively Refusing to Die

Once Killed a Demon Disguised as a Woman While Banging Her… Yes, Really. (Roshi nodded in silent approval)

"Geez! This guy doesn't screw around!" Goku exclaimed.

"Actually, he does apparently." Roshi corrected.

"I think he's so immeasurably angry that killing is all that matters to him at this point." Vegeta reasoned. "And that's honestly kind of terrifying in concept."

"You intend to gamble your life on a single strike?" A man with twisted orange eyes asked, wielding an axe in one hand and a sword in another.

"And take yours in the same one, yes." Guts nodded coldly.

"I admire his confidence." Frost nodded.

(*Cues: Berserk - Des Cambrioleurs!*)

"Guts will do literally ANYTHING to defeat his foes, including jumping into fire or allowing himself to be impaled just to gain an advantage, or sleep with them to stab them in the back, or let himself get stabbed and beaten near to death for the four hundredth time just to get close to blast their face off! And... somehow he always survives." Boomstick said, seeming impressed with Guts' feats. "Not due to plot armor… okay, maybe due to some plot armor… But still, he's fallen hundreds of feet, gotten stabbed through the face more than once, taken one thousand supernatural punches at once, stabbed his own arm off and then nearly stabbed a demonic freak by overpowering his will power and has even been run over by an... elf, fairy Mothra going supersonic speeds."

"Guts is just a human, right?" Goku asked. "How is he alive after all that!?"

"It wouldn't be too hard to believe that the brand Griffith gave him keeps him alive." Piccolo reasoned. "Maybe there's some sort of demonic powers behind that?"

"Honestly, he just seems too angry to die." Yamcha said, semi-sarcastically, but also feeling like that might actually be a reason as to how Guts had survived this long.

"But his disregard for his own safety can and usually is extremely costly." Wiz explained as Guts was shown in a fight, bringing Dragonslayer down into a large armored man's shoulder but he was stabbed in the lower abdomen at the same time. "Honestly, the only reason he's still alive is sheer dumb luck and unstoppable willpower."

"And if Guts isn't tough enough on his own, he wears the Berserker Armor, which has to be some of the most insane battle gear you've ever seen!"

The 'Berserker Armor' was now shown once more. The armor was a gray-black colored with plating covering his entire body, six shoulder pads, three on each side, and an odd helmet. The shape of it seemed like a mixture of a bat, a falcon and a dog's head.

"Yeah, that looks pretty cool." Krillin admitted with a nod.

"See, activating the Berserker Armor seals off the wearer's nervous system, making him immune to pain and its natural inhibitions." Wiz began with an explanation, and that surprised a few of the fighters, but they also felt like there was more to this story. "This allows Guts to fight at his fullest potential, boosting his power and speed at the risk of damaging his own body… but with a number of significant issues. Namely, he feels nothing, but he isn't invincible."

"So? Hit fast, hit first. No problem." Vegeta said aloud.

"Did it ever occur to you that pain is a way of your body telling you to stop whatever it is your doing?" Roshi asked. "Back when 18 snapped your arm, you stopped 'cause you were in so much pain. If you had this, you'd've probably kept going, and most likely would've died. Again."

"With this armor, Guts' sword swing is more powerful than a cannonball, so the force can break his own arm. But don't worry: the cursed berserker armor will literally rip and pierce his body to pin the bones and muscles back in place. It's free health care! And is significantly better than America's!" Boomstick explained.

Guts' arm was twisted at an unnatural forty-five-degree angle. Without hesitation, the armor seemed to start twisting his arm around with a sickening snapping sound as it did so, before holding his arm back in place.

"What?" Champa asked, surprised at what he saw. "How does that work?"

"That looked painful." Tien said, wincing slightly at the unnatural movement.

"Now don't get the wrong idea. The armor does not actually heal Guts; it just holds him together. This is dangerous because, well, even though Guts won't feel pain, that doesn't make him invincible, and he can still die from the almost comical amount of blood loss that seems to follow him wherever he goes."

"Plus, the berserker armor also kinda... forces Guts to give in to his inner demons and lose all sense of morality and restraint, making him most likely the second most violent demon-killer ever."

"Well, that makes sense." Beerus admitted. "The armor holds him together, but how does it affect his brain? I've seen weapons and items that can alter a fighter's personality, abilities or body, but they were clearly enchanted in one way or another, where did the Berserker Armor come from? Is it connected to his body like Leetha was to Spawn?"

"Honest question; who here would wear it?" Krillin asked, and eventually everyone raised their hand aside from Roshi and Tien.

"I mean, I don't know if I'd wear it in an actual fight, but training in it would be super useful!" Goku reasoned. "Never feel the effects of training on my body? Just keep training? That'd be awesome!"

"I'd wear it in a fight." Vegeta shrugged. "The mental aspect has to be controllable, you'd just need enough willpower."

"That sounds like the beginning to a cautionary tale." Roshi replied, annoying the Prince, but also making a fair point.

"The two words that best describe this armor are violent, and completely uncontrollable." Wiz nodded.

"Isn't that three?" Goku asked.

"Guts is the living embodiment of rage and the epitome of badassery. Believe me, the last thing you wanna do is get in this guy's way… and if there's a price on your head, you're dead. Ya just don't know it yet." Boomstick concluded as Guts approached a group of men, who seemed (understandably) terrified by his presence.

"My sword has gotten very dull. However, it's three times as thick and does three times the damage of a normal sword. You'd better pray you die quickly, or this could be painful." Guts stated as the doors closed and Goku paused the video.

"Interesting." Champa nodded. "So, they find warriors and make them fight to the death?"

"Apparently, it's a simulation or something, but effectively yes." Piccolo nodded.

"I'll be honest, I thought Kratos or Spawn had the worst hand dealt to them, but man… I was very wrong." Roshi shook his head somberly.

"I'm honestly surprised Guts isn't the villain." Yamcha reasoned. "Horrific backstory, ultra-violent, kills everything in his path, usually he'd be the villain of the story."

"I think Griffith is a big enough villain as it is." Krillin replied.

"Man, if he and Griffith were villains together…" Piccolo muttered, not even wanting to think about that."

"Still, it is surprising he isn't a villain, I'll give you that." Vegeta admitted. "His story is how most villains begin. I hate to admit to it, but I think Griffith may have saved Guts from becoming a villain."

"But not himself…"

"Griffith was most likely so far gone when they met, that it didn't matter what anyone did. He seems like he was past the point of return." Roshi nodded. "Maybe he thought that if Guts went full villain, he'd take his place in the Eclipse thingy."

"Y'know, I'm just gonna say it, I think it'd be kinda cool to fight alongside Guts." Goku admitted. "Sure… all the blood and guts might be kinda sick, but if Dragonslayer is as tough as it seems, what if you fired a Ki blast at it? Could he just deflect it into a rival or something?"

"There's also a good chance you'd accidentally get sliced in half." Piccolo said, looking over to Goku. "But that reminds me of something… did they ever say Guts was a skilled fist fighter?"

There wasn't a response right away as everyone thought over what the Namekian asked. Guts clearly could hold his own in a fight, sword or no sword, but it was never explicitly said he was a skilled fighter in that regard, and the question had some weight to it.

"So, who was this other guy, Nightmare?" Champa asked with a raised brow. "What's his deal?"

Deciding that was a good enough excuse to continue, Goku picked up the remote and hit play.

"I wonder what Goten and Trunks are up to…" Goku thought.

Somewhere Across the Dimensions…

"…"

"…."

"…."

"..uh…"

"…wow…"

"…that was awesome!"

"…yeah it was…"

"Yeah. But we take this to our graves." Trunks instructed.

"Agreed." Goten and Skorch nodded, watching the aftermath of their adventure.

"Y'know, I didn't know that stuff was explosive." Goten remarked.

"Ya learn somethin' new every day. C'mon, let's get some chicken from that Captain Spaulding guy's place."

(*Cues: Soul Calibur V - Legends Unveiled*)

"Long, long ago, transcending history and the world, an enormous sword was forged, designed to be the deadliest weapon on the battlefield." Wiz began as from fire, a large sword appeared. Rather than the traditional long and narrow design, this sword kind of looked like a giant tooth.

"Why is there an eye in it?" Roshi asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Does it have a brain?" Hercule asked.

"It was called Soul Edge and it was a beast! Gigantic, powerful... sexy."

"Does he always get aroused with weapons?" Champa asked.

"Hey, you get aroused by food, you're not in a place to judge someone." Beerus shrugged.

"Oh, piss off!"

"Uh… At… at a daunting six feet, one inch in length, no ordinary soldier could wield it... but those who could would become unstoppable warriors." Wiz continued a bit creeped out by Boomstick's remark.

"So, it's got some security thing like Mjolnir?" Krillin asked.

"Nah… I'm picking up on something… IN that blade." Piccolo shook his head. "That eyeball is most likely connected to some sort of entity that lives inside that weapon."

"When it went into battle or pillaging, it left no survivors in its wake. Just like my ex-wife at an all-you-can-eat buffet."

"I didn't know you were married Champa." Beerus said with a sly grin. Champa blinked, then seemed to realize what Beerus was getting at.

"YOU THINK YOU'RE FUNNY!? IF YOUR GONNA SAY THAT, SAY THAT TO MY FACE YA PURPLE ASSHOLE!" He snapped.

"You're fat." Beerus replied, now looking at his brother.

"However, a great evil dwelled within the sword. After claiming victory upon victory and being bathed in the blood and hatred of countless foes…"

(*Cues: Soul Calibur II - Hellfire*)

"…a fire was born inside of Soul Edge." Wiz continued.

"Called it."

"Literally, it's a demon made of freaking fire that lives inside this badass sword!" Boomstick exclaimed, seeming way more excited than someone should be about this.

"…Hey…" Krillin began, but trailed off. "Never mind."

"The demon known as Inferno had one purpose within its entire existence: to infect the world with evil and chaos, driving it into a blazing inferno of death and anguish." Wiz continued as the demon known as 'Inferno' was shown, and was a being made of fire and what seemed like electricity. It snarled and roared, seeming more like a wild animal than anything.

"I have a question, Lord Beerus." Piccolo spoke up. The God of Destruction blinked, then motioned for him to ask.

"If you and your brother are gods of Destruction, are there other Gods or Entities whose purpose could be to spread death and chaos?"

"If you're asking if there's a God of Death, then the answer is not exactly." Beerus replied. "There's one known as Lord Death, he's not a God and he's rather… eccentric, and somewhat annoying from what I've been told. He exists as a balance between life and death. Thing is, even my own purpose, destruction of worlds, is for an end goal. I don't know of a being whose sole purpose is to spread madness…"

"But in order to do this, he needed a warrior capable of wielding the true power of Soul Edge. He planned to possess this warrior and transform them into the azure-clad knight of darkness, the slayers of innocents and the bane of everyone they would face… Nightmare."

"Blood… darkness… come unto me!" Nightmare shouted in an echoing voice as black fire circled Nightmare and another fighter.

SOUL EDGE

Length: 6'1" / 185 cm

Vessel of Inferno

Fractured

Can Take Various Forms Based on the Wielder

Malfestation Curse: Turns Victims into Mindless Slaves of Bloodlust (That was a horrifying thought to the fighters)

Infects the User's Mind, Making Them Want to use Soul Edge More and More, Destroying Their Soul

(*Cues: Soul Calibur II - Eternal Struggle (Theme of Cervantes)*)

"Inferno's first victim came in the late 16th century when a pirate named Cervantes de León raided an English galleon and discovered the intriguing blade aboard, claiming it as his own." Wiz began as an older man with blue clothes and gold armor appeared, wielding two swords as he stood on the bow of a ship, looking out over the seas. He had a presence that commanded respect, but was also the air of a man who would kill you without a second thought.

"But as we know, this was no ordinary, flesh-covered sword with an eyeball. Inferno seized this opportunity and possessed the pirate, which probably wasn't that hard to do, considering the whole 'pirate' thing." Boomstick said.

(*Cues: Soul Calibur II - Hubris*)

"So, Inferno decided he needed to testing his new body… by slaughtering the entire population of a Spanish port town. Talk about a test drive!"

A small town was shown completely engulfed in flames, Soul Edge swung by in several shots, and a trial of corpses was all that was left behind it. Cervantes still looked like himself… aside from his right arm, which was now black and seemed to have spikes on it.

"I'm guessing this weapon is one of those things that gains strength from the souls it consumes, or absorbs or whatever." Beerus remarked.

"Unfortunately, while powerful, Cervantes was not the ideal vessel Inferno had sought, and was unable to completely become Nightmare. At least to the extent that Inferno wanted."

"So, Inferno made him sit in that town until two chicks showed up, killed his ass, and somebody more powerful picked up the sword. Which… man, that's just a bad way to go. Get possessed by an ultra-powerful demon? Okay. Be forced to sit and wait until someone shows up and kills you? That's just… sad, really."

Roshi however was now paying a lot of attention as the two women who would kill Cervantes appeared… both of them wearing practically nothing. They also seemed much stronger than the Nightmare-Pirate, as they quickly dispatched him. Soul Edge was left stuck on the ground like a twisted sword-in-the-stone story, and the burning village continued to be reduced to nothing but ashes. However, everything seemed to speed up, showing the town being rebuilt, life moving on, and the sword remaining where it was the whole while.

"That someone was a knight named Siegfried and this was the body Inferno was looking for. Once Siegfried's hand touched Soul Edge, Inferno began eating away at his soul, falsely promising that he would grant Siegfried the power to bring his father back to life."

A man in green armor reached down and took hold of the Soul Edge's hilt. Breathing deeply, he pulled on it, and the sword was freed from its stone tomb. As he looked it over, the eye on the sword opened.

"Who… has freed me?" A deep whisper echoed around eh viewing area.

"Father?" The man asked.

"No…I am not your father. Do you seek the sword for him?"

"He is… he is dead because of me. I have sought this blade because of it's power, and the power it grants those who carry it."

"Ah, you seek the power of the Soul! Tell me, what is your name?"

"Siegfried."

"Tell me Siegfried. Do you wish to see your father again?"

"Yes! More than anything!"

"And if I were to give you the power to do so, would you in return do something for me?"

"I'll do anything! What is it you ask?!"

"Don't not concern yourself with that, all in due time."

"That's kind of horrifying. Krillin said. "A weapon that talks to you… and only you can hear it? That's how you convince people you're insane."

"And what if it wasn't just a sword?" Piccolo added.

"What else? A microwave or something?" Goku asked.

"Sure, yeah. That."

"But from the second Siegfried touched that sword, Inferno began torturing him endlessly and feeding on his fear and anger, transforming him into the horrific knight of eternal darkness and death, Nightmare." Wiz concluded.

Screaming in pain, Siegfried seemed to be losing any and all control of his body as a shadowy black fire burned along his body. His arm twitched and spazzed as it grew, bones snapping and re-forming into jagged spikes. Along his back, the blueish-purple armor was forming, a fire forming on his chest, only for the armor to create a mouth around said fire, with machete-sharp teeth above and below.

"What…Is happening!?" He screamed in pain.

"The power you sought is yours, now… I will take what is mine!" The twisted voice spoke as Siegfried cried out in agony as the twisted armor affixed itself to his body. His feet seemed to be covered in steel boots with what almost looked like talons scraped along the ground as Nightmare was brought into this world.

BACKGROUND

Height: 5'10" / 178 cm

Weight: 336 lbs / 152

AKA The Azure Knight

The Personification and Physical Manifestation of Soul Edge and Inferno

Weapon Style: Zweihander

Known Hosts: Arcturus, Zasalamel, Cervantes, Siegfried, Pyrrha

Remembers the fighting Style of all Previous Nightmares (That was oddly fascinating to the fighters.)

"Huh. So, Nightmare doesn't have a physical body of his own unless he takes over someone?" Cabba asked. "Does Inferno have a body of his own? Or is he a spirit without one?"

"Probably not, he seems to be made of emotion, so unless he can infect another body, it seems like he doesn't have one." Hit remarked.

"Well, Nightmare was strong enough to threaten all of Europe, and by extent, the world. Along his exploits, he was capable of conquering whole armies and devouring thousands of innocent souls. If Nightmare was left unchecked, he most likely would've taken over the world, plunging it into eternal fire."

"If you haven't figured it out by now, Soul Edge is kind of like the Ring from Lord of the Rings... if it can cut people and hungered for souls!" Boomstick said.

"However, Soul Edge's power was incomplete. At some point, it had been broken apart, and shards of the demon sword had been scattered across the world." Wiz continued as Soul Edge was shown once more, now with several chunks missing.

"Kinda like the Dragon Balls." Goku nodded.

"So, in order to unlock Soul Edge's true power, Nightmare set off to find the lost pieces of his sword and repair it, killing everyone who got in his path."

"THIS PLACE WILL BE YOUR GRAVE!" Nightmare shouted, grabbing someone and proceeded to set their head on fire as his hand covered the enemies head.

SIGNATURE MOVES

Grim Stride

Soul Wave

Dark Reconquista

Death Lord's Vengeance

Death Lord's Annihilation

Blood Lord's Invasion

Ether Lord's Carnage

Grim Lord's Auto-Da-Fé

Blood Storm

Crimson Fountain

Death Smash

Double Death Claw

Shoulder Rush

"He can fight with numerous stances, channel fire and lightning through Soul Edge. He's also a decent physical fighter, not always relying on his sword. But most awesome of all, Nightmare devour the souls of hundreds of victims at once with Soul Wave!"

The fighters watched as Nightmare lifted Soul Edge into the air, a pinkish-purple lightning sparking around it as a storm seemed to be formed.

"Weird." Goku remarked. "Kinda looks like some twisted Ki energy."

"Watch this!" Nightmare declared, driving the blade into the ground, and creating a massive shockwave which expanded outwards, those nearby staring in horror as the wave of demonic energy overtook him, and they were left to fade to nothing, their souls then pulled back into Soul Edge. "There is no escape… from darkness."

"Huh. How can Guts block that?" Goku asked. "If it just destroys a soul, then how can Guts get around that?"

"Berserker Armor, possibly." Piccolo shrugged. "He's fast, but not on the level of us, so he most likely needs to be able to take physical attacks."

(*Cues: Soul Calibur IV - Destiny Will Tell*)

"Despite Nightmare's ever-growing power, Siegfried constantly battled to free himself from Soul Edge's curse. Just because Nightmare had his body, that didn't mean he had full control of Siegfried." Wiz continued.

"Which makes sense." Piccolo reasoned. "Nightmare clearly was stated to be a parasite of sorts, so most likely Siegfried would be able to try and break free."

"Sure, but how do you fight against something like that? Is it like trying to deal with an addiction or something?" Goku asked.

"If I had to guess, possibly."

"And eventually he succeeded." Wiz continued, surprising the fighters as Siegfried violently ripped a chunk of the armor off of his body, a loud screeching faintly audible as he threw it to the ground. The two did battle atop of Ostrheinsburg Castle, but Nightmare's power was so great the entire structure was obliterated by a single swing of his vile blade…"

A large structure, seeming almost Greek in some regards concerning its architecture appeared. On it, Nightmare stood, wielding Soul Edge, while Siegfried stood across form him, now wearing crystal-white armor.

"It has come to this Inferno." Siegfried stated, pointing with his blade at Nightmare. "Your reign of terror ends today!"

"You will die, broken and screaming. Just like your father." Nightmare growled in response. The two shot forth, a dance of blades being performed atop the castle roof. With each strike, it seemed like the battle shifted potential victor, with every few strikes, the camera moved slowly around the impact, and now they noticed that Siegfried's sword seemed a lot like Soul Edge, but angelic.

"What's with Siegfried's sword?" Tien asked.

Before anyone else could ask or respond, Nightmare slashed Siegfried across the chest, sending his sword flying into the air, and digging into the ground behind him.

"Wait. What?"

Nightmare seemed to summon some sort of fire in his hand, and then infused it into Soul Edge, causing the whole blade to glow a hellfire orange.

"The despicable shackles that held me all these long years, are now destroyed." He stated, raising his blade. "None shall be able to stop me!"

Driving the electrified blade downwards, Nightmare ended Siegfried's life by plunging the blade through his chest. As a choir began chanting, Nightmare seemed to be gathering some unseen energy, his eyes glowing brighter, and he roared into the sky as fire consumed the arena around him.

"Whoa." Cabba blinked. "I didn't think he'd actually…"

"I thought Nightmare needed a host." Roshi added.

"It seems like past a certain point, Inferno can simply create one for himself. Most likely after being connected to someone for a certain amount of time." Beerus reasoned with a shrug, surprised and a little disappointed that Siegfried had been slain so easily.

"…along with Siegfried." Wiz added as the screen faded to black and text appeared on screen.

'The flames of the cursed sword furiously burn. The fires of hell will soon engulf the world in despair.'

"Well. That sucks." Roshi said, taking a drink.

"Just like a crazy ex-girlfriend, he figured if he couldn't have that body, no one can." Boomstick added.

"Are we missing something with that?" Cabba asked.

"No, it's just how he does things." Piccolo answered.

"Unfortunately for most, Soul Edge cannot be defeated by an ordinary blade. In fact, only one weapon has ever been able to harm it: a supposedly Holy blade called Soul Calibur." Wiz continued, surprising the fighters at first with the proclamation of Soul Edge's indestructability, but then with the statement that there was some sort of weapon made to destroy it. "Unknown to most, Soul Calibur is actually the final shard of Soul Edge, reforged into a second sword made specifically to combat its demonic counterpart."

"That's… actually really smart." Roshi began but realized something. "Not only would it keep the final piece of Soul Edge away from Nightmare, but even if he did manage to reclaim it, most likely it would do some serious damage to him before he could repair everything."

"Poor guy. How would you feel if some asshole decided to make a weapon specifically designed to murder you?" Boomstick asked.

In hell, a figure loaded six 'Exorcist Bullets' into his comically massive magnum.

"Red?! Where are ya dude!?" A voice called.

"Relax Omega, I'm comin'."

"I can't imagine what that's like." Goku muttered, shaking his head.

"That seems similar to the Eternitus Blade…" Vados mused.

"What did happen to that blade anyways?" Whis asked.

"I don't know, apparently it was cast into hell where no demon would be able to use it."

"Eternitus Blade?" Someone asked. The two angels seemed apprehensive, before finally answering.

"It was a sword which was made to kill a God should the need arise." Vados explained, and both Beerus and Champa seemed taken aback by that. "It was considered too powerful for anyone to use, so it was supposedly buried at the center of hell, left with an enchantment that only one who would use it to protect those they love can touch it without having their life force burned out of their body, regardless of how powerful they were."

"I was under the impression that the Eternitus Blade was merely a legend." Beerus said, glaring at Whis.

"Well, you were led to believe that because we knew if you and your bother know about it, you'd both try to steal it, and most likely be killed by it as a result." Vados explained. "Its creation was… a mistake, to be blunt."

(*Cues: Soul Calibur IV - Regin of Doom*)

"And it kept showing up everywhere!"

"But don't think to discredit him as a threat because of that." Wiz quickly added. "Nightmare has come close to conquering the world on numerous occasions, and has slain countless powerful foes, yet a warrior wielding Soul Calibur always seems to show up and hold him at bay. While Soul Edge seems indestructible..."

"...apart from that pesky holy sword..." Boomstick cut in.

"Inferno does require a mortal body to create Nightmare. Should Nightmare fall, Inferno can risk his own life by manifesting himself to protect Soul Edge, as his very existence is tied to the sword. Should one be destroyed, the other will be as well."

FEATS

Defeated Entire Armies Single-Handedly

Obliterated Ostrheinsburg Castle in a Single Blow

As Dumas, Thrust Europe into a Continent-Wide War (Everyone assumed 'Europe' was a massive continent, meaning this was bad.)

Killed Tira, His Most Loyal Servant Because, Evil

Ripped a Hole Between Dimensions With Soul Edge (That was shocking to most of the fighters, even the Gods were slightly taken aback)

Has Devoured Thousands of Souls

"I take it that means Dragonslayer could potentially hurt Nightmare." Vegeta mused. "If Guts' sword exists on both the physical an astral plane… somehow, it should be able to hurt Inferno."

"But if Nightmare manages to absorb that final shard, Soul Edge and Nightmare will merge into their final horrifically badass form: Night Terror!"

Nightmare held the final shard of Soul Edge, crushing it drawing upon its power. He roared as his body was covered in black fire, and it began to change. What was once azure armor and flesh has become a twisted combination of armor and bone-marrow with an orangeish-red sheen too it. The helmet and surrounding pieces had grown and developed a large crest-like shape to it, while the muzzle-covering area has been removed to reveal a lipless mouth with long demonic teeth which bored dripping venom beneath a pair of beady yellow eyes. At the center of its chest was a glowing core of some sort of energy which seemed to be spreading its energy throughout Night Terror's body. What everyone noticed immediately was that in place of Nightmare's hands are a pair of demonic claws and attached to them were fully functional mandibles. Lastly, the camera spun around showing a slightly long tail has sprouted from the base of where the tailbone would be, and flowing from its back are a pair of large, fiery wings.

"Whoa." Cabba said.

"Can't lie, that does look pretty cool." Roshi admitted.

"So that's another fighter with multiple forms." Vegeta muttered, thinking back to the previous fights.

"If Night Terror is the final form of Nightmare, then Guts will probably still be able to kill him." Beerus remarked. "He clearly still has a physical form, and should Night Terror be killed, most likely Soul Edge would be destroyed too."

"Yeah, but can Dragonslayer hurt Night Terror?" Krillin asked. "He's clearly demonic in nature, but physically human, so that shouldn't be an issue. But can Dragonslayer cut through his armor?"

"I think if that happens the Berserker armor will come into play." Goku added.

NIGHT TERROR

Final Form of Nightmare

An Incarnation of Pure, Destructive Will

Achieved by Collecting All Pieces of Soul Edge/Fusing Energy of Both Soul Edge and Soul Calibur

Power, Strength and Speed is Amplified Beyond Reason

Killed the Unkillable Zasalamel

Gains Laser Attacks, Some of Which are Unblockable

Gains the Ability of Flight

Can Erase Souls

The Personification of Catastrophe ("I take it that's bad." Roshi remarked.)

May Be a Second Entity, Aside From Inferno

If Left Unchecked, Will Destroy the Entire Universe (That shocked a number of the fighters, even Vados and Whis were surprised at how powerful Night Terror was turning out to be)

(*Cues: Unknown Theme*)

"Night Terror, a larger, deadlier, fly-ier Nightmare." Boomstick continued.

"Fly-ier?" Wiz and a few of the fighters asked.

"Yeah, when one gains the power of flying-ness? Duh." Boomstick said as if this should be obvious. "But aside from some sick new armor and awesome wings, Night Terror is an absolute BEAST! Night Terror is a living embodiment of pure hatred and destruction, his whole purpose is to slaughter anything it sees, Night Terror is so freakin' terrifying, that Algol, a literal ageless entity who most likely created Soul Calibur. And who also possesses power to warp the very reality that Inferno lives in, pisses himself at the mere concept of fighting him!"

That… was unsettling to some of the fighters. Not only the concept of someone who warps reality, and potentially created the most powerful blade in this world. But moreover, the concept that Algol, effectively a God, was afraid of fighting Night Terror, spoke volumes about how powerful Night Terror was.

"I could still kick his ass." Vegeta scoffed.

"Add to that the fact that Nigh Terror not only keeps all the memories and skills of Nightmare, but amplifies those powers ten-fold. He can move faster than a human, or super-human eye can see, and he even killed the thought unkillable Zasalamel. To top all of it off, Night Terror doesn't just kill you, he literally erases your soul! Technically speaking, this means that you no longer exist on ANY plain, and can't be brought back by any known method."

"So, no Dragon Balls, no Super Dragon Balls… you're just gone." Yamcha reasoned what was being said. "Damn, that's horrifying. How can anyone even hurt this thing?"

"Soul Calibur?" Goku asked.

"That's how he becomes Night Terror, Kakarot." Vegeta muttered.

"No matter the time, place, vessel, or combatant, few warriors can even dream of matching the vile trio of Soul Edge, Inferno, and Nightmare." Wiz concluded as Nightmare spun Soul Edge around.

"Blood! Darkness! I shall drown the world in both!" He declared as the doors closed. Tien paused the video and the group turned to one another.

"So, now they fight until one of them dies?" Cabba asked.

"Pretty much, yeah." Krillin nodded. "So about now we bet on who's gonna win and why we think that… and then get proven wrong five minutes later."

"I'd have to say Guts will win." Beerus admitted. "While Nightmare certainly has power, this seems to be the sort of thing Guts deals with every day, while Nightmare most likely spent long periods of time inactive due to lacking a host."

"Ha! You think a human with a chunk of metal can kill Night Terror?!" Champa laughed. "Nightmare alone could slaughter Guts, but Night Terror could defeat him without a second thought!"

"You really seem confident, it'll be fun watching you realize your stupidity reaches further than you expect." Beerus snarked. Everyone else remained quiet, knowing better than to try and interrupt these two.

"Well, if that's how you feel, how about we bet on it?" Champa asked, and Beerus looked to him in annoyed curiosity.

"Really? Another bet?" He asked. "I'm already going to take everything I want from you, what more could you possibly have to offer?"

"If Guts prevails… uh, your side is given a win, as the loss Goku took doesn't count as a victory."

Beerus snarled at that remark, but now was interested in what else there was on the table.

"And if Nightmare wins, the fire thing fights for Universe Six." Champa concluded.

"Done." Beerus nodded, while all the fighters of Universe Seven sweat-dropped in terror. It wasn't because they thought they would lose against Skorch… it was the fact that they had no idea what fighting Skorch in an actual battle would be like! The brothers returned their attention to the screen, as Whis approached Beerus, who paused, then spoke up: "Hey, Champa! How about we make things interesting and change our fighters?"

"What!? No way!" Champa exclaimed. "You just want Nightmare to win because you're afraid of your fiery boyfriend kicking your universes' ass!"

"Possibly, but if you're so confident in your own fighters, then it shouldn't matter if I end up with an extra win or if Skorch joins your side, your fighters should be enough."

"Rrghh… fine!" Champa grumbled.

"Hang on, are we just gonna let this happen!?" Piccolo asked, uncertainty clear in his voice.

"Agreed, we can't just let them do this!" Vegeta seethed.

"I mean… okay, worst-case scenario, what if one of us has to fight Skorch?" Goku asked, nervous himself. "It's not a fight to the death, so he wouldn't just kill one of us, right?"

"Kakarot, do you remember what happened when we first met him? We hit him with multiple attacks, Beerus included, and it did nothing." Vegeta said matter-of-factly.

"I've never seen you this defeated before." Roshi admitted.

"It's not defeat, it's the fact that all the time we've known that… thing, we've never actually learned about his fighting skills, or even if he has any for that matter."

"Lord Beerus, you do know one of the Watchers' rules is he cannot directly alter events that are set in stone. Even if Champa does win, Skorch will be of no use to him." Whis remarked, noting that Beerus seemed rather amused right now.

"I know." Beerus smirked. "But that fat bastard thinks he can try and take away a victory that Son Goku rightfully had until his team decided to cheat… even if I end up losing this bet, seeing his frustration when Skorch admits to his rules makes it all worthwhile! The Entity won't fight us, and even if he does, he'll throw the match to keep the timeline the way it needs to be!"

"And… what if you're wrong, and we're not destined to win the tournament?"

"Oh, shit." Beerus muttered, snapping to attention and remembering Skorch never said how this ended.

"Alright, the combatants are set. It's time to end this debate once and for all." Wiz stated matter-of-factly.

"IT'S TIME FOR A DEATH BATTLE!" Boomstick declared.

(*Cues: Tales of Souls And Swords - Soul Calibur II*)

The doors opened in a stormy forest. As the camera moved along the ground, deep, twisted breathing echoed throughout the trees. In a clearing, Nightmare is seen having gathered the pieces of Soul Edge, which now sit around him like candles in a summoning-thing.

(*Cues: Slave of Desire - Soul Calibur II*)

Nightmare raises his sword and the pieces flew onto it, each one slamming into the blade and spreading like a sickness across the hilt, handle and blade. As Nightmare laughed, the sword continued transforming into its true form. With a crack of red lightning, Soul Edge was fully reborn, in all its twisted glory.

"At last! At last, the time has come! The world shall be bathed in the dark blood of an eternal nightmare, from which there will be no awakening! This world, shall burn! And I shall rule the hellscapes which re-"

Nightmare was cut off by the cracking of wood, and a large tree fall down, landing only a foot away from him. Whirling around in fury to see who dared interrupt his victory, and from the shadows, Guts stepped into the clearing.

"…you're in my way. Stand aside." Was all Guts said, not caring that there was a giant demon-knight standing with a sentient sword about twenty feet away.

"Fool! Tremble in my darkness!" Nightmare roared, while Guts seemed disinterested.

"I'll give him credit, he doesn't seem to care about the giant demon in front of him." Frost remarked. "Then again, I think he deals with this sort of thing every day, so…"

FIGHT!

Guts shot forward and slashed at Nightmare, their blades clashing in a flurry of strikes with neither side seeming to be affected. Guts spun Dragonslayer in circles, rapidly slashing at Nightmare, who blocked them with Soul Edge, sparks flew as the blades scraped against one another, then were sent flying when Nightmare suddenly charged forward with a shoulder attack, cutting through the sparks. Guts rolled out of the way, and the dance of swords continued.

"Nightmare's a lot faster than I expected." Goku admitted. "With all that armor, how can he still move so fast?!"

"Demon." Roshi shrugged. "Besides, it's not like you've never seen someone move fast in heavy clothes."

"Well yeah…"

Guts pressed forward, keeping Nightmare on the defensive, pushing him towards a massive rock. Guts performed another combo of slashes, before bringing the blade up and then bringing it down again. Nightmare dodged the attack and the giant rock was sliced in two.

"Pathetic!" Nightmare shouted, punching Guts with an armored claw-fist and running after him. Before Guts hit the ground, Nightmare charged up some sort of power in his blade and then bashed Guts with it, sending the Black Swordsman flying into the sky. "BRUN!"

Nightmare charged up an attack through Soul Edge, then fired it, sending a large shockwave attack all around him, pushing trees back on their roots with such force that it looked like it'd rip them out from the ground. Guts was caught in the blast and was sent flying into a tree, crashing into it back-first and sliding down the tree. Nightmare seemed to summon some demonic energy, and fired a blast from his sword towards Guts. The one-armed Sowrdsman looked up and saw the blast coming towards him.

"Grah!" He yelled, bringing Dragonslayer up in front of him as he braced. The arc of energy struck Dragonslayer, and sliced in two. The blast continued onwards in two separate directions, slicing through two trees which fell to the ground behind him.

"Okay, they didn't have to do that, but it looked cool." Roshi stated.

"Indeed." Frost agreed.

Now Nightmare was able to push Guts backwards, keeping him on the defensive while he slashed away with Soul Edge. Each attack only served to clash with Dragonslayer, and neither blade seemed to be taking any damage. They clashed once more, and the camera spun around them before zooming in on Nightmare's face.

"What's wrong, weakling?!" Nightmare growled, beginning to push Guts back. Not only that, but Nightmare was pushing Guts down. "Fear my eternal wrath! Tremble in fe-"

Nightmare was silenced by Guts headbutting him mid-taunt, knocking him backwards with sheer strength of his skull.

"That's actually a decent move." Vegeta muttered. "If you can't move physically, strike with the one part that won't give them an advantage…"

"I'd also say talking during a fight is a bad idea." Piccolo added. "But we still do it anyways…"

Nightmare lifts Soul Edge in the air, and began to charge it with his demonic fire. Guts came forward regardless, bringing in Dragonslayer for another attack.

"True terror!" Nightmare shouted as he brought the blade down towards Guts' head. To those who hadn't seen a Death Battle before, the assumption was that the fight was about to end, to those that had… they didn't know where this was going. Everything slowed down as Soul Edge came down millimeters from Guts' face, it didn't miss entirely, and a deep cut was left along the right side of his face. To everyone's surprise, Guts didn't even flinch. As Soul Edge went down, Guts raised his mechanical arm and made a fist at Nightmare's face, and then the fist opened downwards, and the sound of a shotgun racking a slug could be heard in the silence.

"DIE!" Guts yelled as he fired his cannon-arm directly into Nightmare's face. The blast fired full force, and Nightmare's head seemed to be obliterated, and Beerus twitched nervously, feeling like he might have just lost a bet…

"That can't be all it takes to kill him." Frost frowned. "That just seems to easy…"

"Yeah, don't worry. These battles usually last a lot longer, and end on a much more brutal note." Roshi shrugged.

"Impressive…" Nightmare's voice echoed. And without warning, guts was punched in the gut and sent flying into another tree. Nightmare's head seemed damaged, but not destroyed as he collected Soul Edge and seemed to summon energy once more. "But now, YOU WILL TASTE THE SWORD OF DESPAIR!"

Guts looked up and seemed genuinely shocked when Nightmare came charging towards him on a fire-ghost horse. Swinging Soul Edge down, Guts had moments to try and block the attack, and while the blade didn't cut him in half, the fire emanating off of the blade did burn him, and the force of a charging horse did throw him back into the tree. Which Nightmare then rode into.

"Wait. Since when could he summon a horse?" Vegeta asked.

"…good question." Piccolo nodded.

Guts clearly took some heavy blows from Nightmare's Nightmare Moon, but he somehow still had the strength to roll out of the way when Nightmare jumped off of his steed and tried to flatten him. Nightmare was now the one who was left briefly vulnerable, and a trio of bombs were lobbed at him, exploding one after another and making him yell in anger and pain as he was blinded briefly by the explosion. Guts came back in and slashed Nightmare across the chest, finally doing a decent amount of damage to the demon-knight. Blood splattered across a tree as Nightmare roared in pain. Guts came back for another attack, only for Nightmare to grab Dragonslayer as it came in, and ripped it out of his hands.

"Didn't see that coming!" Krillin said. "I thought that blade was magnetized so he could hold onto it!"

"It is, I take it Nightmare's just that strong." Tien nodded. "Still, sword or no sword, I doubt Guts is about to just lay down and die."

"Soul Edge may not give him a choice in that matter…"

Guts backflipped out of the way of the incoming attack and now found himself frantically trying to avoid being cut in two while he thought of a strategy. Dragonslayer was about fifteen feet away, but Nightmare's constant attacks made those fifteen feet the same as five hundred miles. Thinking fast, Guts grabbed one of the fallen trees by its roots and swung it upwards, Soul Edge slashing through it, but not through Guts. While Nightmare could destroy stone with a single swipe, the tree put just enough distance between Guts and the blade to save his life.

"Smart." Roshi remarked. "But he's gonna need something else to keep Nightmare off his back until he can get his sword back."

Guts seemed to have the same thought, and used the two tree chunks he now held as giant brass knuckles for lack of a better term. He struck at Nightmare's mid-section, attacking the mouth-like hole in the center of the armor before upercutting Nightmare in the jaw with one of the wood chunks, shattering it and sending Nightmare stumbling back. Rather than run for his sword, Guts stood his ground and aimed with his mechanical hand, firing a quick barrage of arrows at Nightmare's helmet. Most of them bounced off and seemed to be nothing more than an annoyance. Aside from the one that went into his face.

"GRAAH!" Nightmare roared as one of the arrows supposedly dug into his eye. Now Guts took the advantage to grab his sword and dive back towards Nightmare, cutting one of his claw-fingers off.

"Kick his ass Guts!" Cabba shouted.

"Nightmare I swear if you cost us this tournament…" Beerus muttered, eyes narrowed.

"YOU WILL KNOW ETERNAL HELLFIRE!" Nightmare roared, and in a moment of absolute fury, Guts was sent flying backwards once more. Floating into the sky, Nightmare roared as his body was encased in new armor, and the demonic, draconic wings sprouted from his back.

"Is that meant to be a threat?" Guts asked.

"He seems way too calm about this whole thing." Goku said, surprised that Guts seemed so casual about Night Terror. Sure, he fought demons and monsters every day, but after the whole 'Eclipse' thing, Goku didn't know how he didn't have some serious phobia of demons… but then again, he seemed so brutally angry that maybe he didn't know fear.

"I know he's a demonic spirit and all, but he looks pretty cool." Krillin admitted.

Night Terror charged up a powerful blast that Guts took a stance to try and block, but the blast was so powerful, it overpowered him and sent him flying through several trees in a pretty cool wide shot of the dark forest being broken up by the purplish beam. Crashing into another tree, Guts looked up and scowled, only to be impaled on the tree by Night Terror who came flying in and drove his blade through Guts lower abdomen. The Black Swordsman spat out a large amount of blood as he gasped for breath.

"BURN!" Night Terror shouted, unleashing a flaming attack through Soul Edge which blasted Guys through the tree, making him scream in pain as he was dragged along the ground and crashed into a rock.

"Holy crap! You okay dude?!" A new figure spoke having been sleeping against the rock. Pushing some dirty blonde hair from his face, the teen looked up and saw Night Terror flying towards them. "Huh. Uh, I'm gonna leave you two alone…"

Night Terror landed and drove Soul Edge into the ground, creating a pillar of fire which seemed to be threatening to turn into a fire tornado. Guts got to his feet and seemed to be looking around frantically, as if trying to think of another way to defeat Nightmare.

"BURN IN DARKNESS!" Night Terror roared, stabbing Guts again and kicking him off of Soul Edge. It was clear Guts was hurting something fierce, and Beerus smirked, feeling that Nightmare might actually win this battle.

Guts began yelling as he fired another barrage of arrows at Night Terror who summoned a wall of flames to destroy them. However, everyone realized that Guts was stupid enough to do exactly what he was about to do; jump through the fire. As the chorus chanted to the Heavens above, Guts flew through the wall, partially setting himself on fire, but he kept flying and sliced Night Terror's arm clean off, making him scream in pain.

"Nice!" Champa exclaimed. He had partially forgotten about the bet he made with Beerus, he was genuinely entertained by the battle.

"Damn. He disarmed him." Roshi said.

"No." Vegeta said, not even turning to look at Roshi.

"Yes."

"Shut up."

"No."

Guts slashed Night Terror again, spinning around and bringing his sword back down, only for Night Terror to grab it. This was an incredibly stupid plan as Guts ripped the sword backwards and sliced his other hand off. Night Terror's scream was cut off mid-scream as Guts brought the sword down once more and split Night Terror's head in two.

"Yes!" Champa cheered victoriously.

"Damn it!" Beerus cursed.

Everyone else watched in surprise, pretty sure that Nightmare had just been killed, those that rooted for him felt disappointed, and those that rooted for Guts felt victorious as the fight had ended in their favor.

"I told you to stay out of my way. Guts coldly remarked as he walked off.

"Huh, kinda expected him to use the Berserker Armor." Hit muttered, and everyone realized something.

"It's not over, is it?" Frost asked.

As a black cloud began to form around Night Terror's body, the answer was clear. The shell that housed Night Terror exploded in fire as Inferno himself made his appearance, engulfing Soul Edge into his body and giving himself physical form.

"ALL WILL BE WASHED AWAY IN FIRE!" He roared in his twisted distorted voice as the entire forest burst into flames. Guts spun around in shock seeing the demon, and scowled. "YOU THINK YOU CAN SLAY ME. MORTAL!? DEATH WILL BE INESCABALE!"

Stabbing Dragonslayer into the ground, Guts took a stance, and his arms were suddenly covered by black armor. The chest plates moved over his body, and his head was encased in his helmet. Now, it was Inferno vs Berserker Guts, and everyone watching had the same thought.

This was gonna be good.

"COME ON YOU DEMONIC BASTARD!" Guts roared before the Berserker Armor's face plate snapped down and took over his mind, leaving him only able to roar. Inferno summoned a barrage of demonic spikes from the floor which Guts ran through, getting stabbed multiple times as he ran forward.

Then, in a movement no one saw coming, Guts jumped at Inferno… and sliced Soul Edge in two.

Immediately, the fire died as the pieces of the sword landed on the ground, as did Guts, who stood there in his armor. Inferno was gone, Soul Edge was gone, Guts… had won.

"That can't be how it-" Vegeta began.

K.O.!

"You have to be kidding me." Beerus muttered in absolute disbelief. He had literally said 'Hey, let's switch fighters!' and immediately that was coming to bite him in the ass.

"Huh, looks like I won." Champa remarked.

"You rooted for the wrong fighter." Beerus countered. "But… yeah."

"Sorry, who's this guy they're talking about?" Frost asked.

"Essentially he's an outer-dimensional-warper." Piccolo said calmly, trying not to show the anger he was currently feeling towards Beerus. "It's a long story."

"How did Guts kill Soul Edge?" Cabba asked, a little confused as to how Guts won. "I understand how he killed Nightmare, but how did he break Soul Edge?"

"Hell yeah! Now that's what I call a sword fight!" Boomstick exclaimed. "While Nightmare wields more power than Guts, and debatably has better finesse and sword skills, this is what Guts does EVERY SINGLE DAY. He gets the shit kicked out of him trying to defeat gods and demons, leagues above his abilities, and still prevails."

"That's true." Yamcha nodded.

"Actually yeah, Guts does this every day, while Nightmare… doesn't." Goku nodded, not sure how often Nightmare was active, but whatever.

"It's true. All his-" Wiz began.

"I mean THIS GUY lives in a world where giant monsters are trying to kill you, eat you, rape you, or all three at the same time! And that's just Monday." Boomstick continued.

"Considering us not having to deal with some force that wants to destroy the world for a week is considered a good week, I think I get what they're getting at." Vegeta nodded in agreement. "No matter how powerful Nightmare or Night Terror was, Guts wasn't about to back down. Also, I think Dragonslayer could kill Inferno because of the whole 'other plane' thing."

"...it's true. All his life, Guts has had the odds stacked against him and yet he's still kicking while everything else is dead, dying or will be dead soon." Wiz agreed. "However, Nightmare and Night Terror is, well, a Nightmare. The parasitic demon was definitely on the tougher side of things Guts has faced, and you could reasonably say he was similar to Grunbeld."

"Not to mention that Nightmare had the memories of more than one Nightmare, so he knew plenty of sword fighting styles to try and keep Guts at a disadvantage." Boomstick said. "Plus, he's got magic! Something Guts, does not."

"Although Guts seemed to have no issue with dealing with magic in both his world and this fight." Frost reasoned.

"But Guts has been through enough to have rough ideas on how to counter or avoid magic. Really, this came down to a duel of the blades."

"Oh, but Wizard, I thought only Soul Calibur could destroy Soul Edge. Ergh..." Boomstick said in a sarcastic tone, and this did get everyone's attention. They assumed Vegeta had it right, but were curious as to what the exact reasoning was.

"That's also true, in the Soulcalibur world. However, Inferno exists on an astral plane, and If you recall, Guts' sword Dragonslayer also exists on such a plane, leaving no question that it could destroy Soul Edge." Wiz explained.

"So, Nightmare exists on the physical plane, Soul Edge exists on both the physical and astral plane, and Inferno exists on the astral plane?"

"And then when Inferno decided 'screw it, I'll do it myself!' he essentially walked into that death, as while Inferno has power to create storms and Nightmares, Guts had the Berserker Armor and the Dragon Slayer. Two things that can very easily kill demons."

"Plus, even if Guts had suffered massive injuries or hadn't figured out the weak points in Nightmare's armor, his Berserker Armor bought him plenty of time to land the killing blow."

"Yeah, because it will literally let you fight on until all of your bones are shattered and the last drop of your blood is spilled."

"At the cost of you not knowing you're in danger of dying." Tien remarked.

"Could Night Terror have impaled Guts through the Berserker Armor and killed him that way? Probably. Did he? No." Boomstick added.

"And it's not like Soul Edge was gonna have any luck tempting Guts into picking it up and turning into another Nightmare. Not only has Guts dealt with enough demonic shit to know that's a bad idea, he REALLY loves that Dragonslayer. He's not giving that up for anything. Once Inferno decided to show himself, it was do-or-die for both sides, but Guts had the strength, tenacity, and anger to do, leaving Inferno to die." Wiz explained his final point.

"Man, if Guts became Nightmare, that'd be terrifying." Goku admitted.

"I'm pretty sure if most of us became Nightmare, that would be pretty terrifying." Krillin replied.

"Or your wives." Piccolo added.

"Don't… don't even joke about that man. I don't wanna think about that…"

"Guts was just a whole 'nother caliber!" Boomstick declared.

"The winner is Guts." Wiz concluded.

"Huh." Frost blinked as the credits rolled. "That was really interesting."

"Yeah, so they have these for warriors from different worlds?" Cabba asked.

"Presumably, yes." Vegeta nodded. "Warriors of all caliber have been features so far. It's pretty interesting to see how others fight…"

"Next time on Death Battle!" Boomstick spoke up, getting their attention once more. This time, the screen stayed black and two high-pitched rings sounded out before what looked like a video call opened up.

"Are you in position?" A man asked, he seemed like the typical stereotype of a 'computer nerd'.

"Yeah." Another man, this one with a, headband and notable light mustache-beard combo replied in a gravelly voice.

"You know what this guy is, right?"

"Just another asshole."

"Don't get cocky Snake, this guy is a legend. He's the top Splinter Cell Agent there is."

"Makes no difference to me."

"I'm serious, this guy isn't like most of the thugs you take on! He's… he's like you!"

"What was his name again?" The gruff voice asked.

SOLID SNAKE VS SAM FISHER

"Interesting." Someone remarked.

Across dimensions, a trio of figures were flying through reality, admiring the colors and trippy visuals that accompanied it. Of the three, Skorch was the most casual as he did this frequently, and had grabbed his tablet to read some reviews.

"Okay, first up we have one form a 'Guest' who wrote…

Hi am monkeydgoku do you think you can make a fan battle with Akuma vs yujiro hanma from baki the grappler. I know Akuma wins but i just wanna see the Z Fighters' reaction for the martial arts displayed in baki series.

"Gonna start by saying no. I don't know Baki the Grappler, and people are here for the actual Death Battles. I have a bunch of my own that I'd like to write, and maybe I will eventually, but there are some I think we need to get through first. But what do you all think? What Death Battles would you like to see me come up with? If any? Up next is one from 'SinisterMagik', who wrote…

I'm jealous that you had McDonalds. I'm craving for some fried chicken here! Anyway, thank you for the new chapter! It's been a rough month for me. I enjoyed reading through your fic.

"Hey, hope things get better for you. Something I had to learn is sometimes the best thing you can do is drop some things you've been doing for a while to make sure you can handle what's most important. Next is one from another Guest, who wrote…

Guts has more tragic backstory then a freaking Mary Sue. Still it would be fun to see how the gods will react, I mean there is bad luck and then there is him.

"Pretty much yeah. I don't know what he did to rack up so much bad karma, but he's not ending his playthrough with high honour if you know what I'm saying. Next is one from 'Drago-X6627', who writes…

I challenge you to a game of among us last see whom can live the longest

"PM Me. You don't seem Sus. Also, if you do PM me at any point, check back within a few hours. I reply to 99% of them. Next is one from 'thunderofdeath97', who wrote…

Venusaur isn't super effective on dark types, and hate to say this, but this really wasn't an unbiased fight, if it was then all pokémon would fight, with the entire move sets they have (that means egg moves, tutors as well), and they would have all evolutions (which means mega, not sure about dynamaxing or gigantamaxing)

"I feel like I could've worded this better. I was mostly joking about how much attention Charizard gets from The Pokémon Company when he's just… okay. I think there's way cooler starters that should get new forms and stuff. Also, the Dark thing was in relation to the current change in the TCG. Next is one from 'Dakenistaire' who writes…

Great chapter as always, although I have to object to calling Giratina evil. It just sort of exists as a cosmic balancer. In its game appearances it shows up to stop Cyrus from erasing reality and the movie it starred in had a human antagonist trying to harness its power.

"Like I said to thunderofdeath97, most of my information on pokémon comes from the TCG cards. I know there's a lot more to them, but I don't have time to read/watch everything. Finally, we have one from 'Superkamiguest', who wrote…

You mentioned about three back-ups. As in three websites to still read your stories, right?

"They're not up yet, but yeah. I've got at least three sites I can fall back on should things go wrong. But they're not up yet, so if there are other places to read my work, let me know, because I didn't post them."

"Hey! I think I see them!"

"Yeah, we're back." Skorch nodded. As everything seemed to stretch out as reality came back to normal, Goten and Trunks skidded across the floor as they re-appeared through a portal, stopping by the group, while Skorch kept going, hitting a chair and spinning off in it. "Gah! Crap!"

"Hi boys, how was the trip?" Bulma asked with a smile, curious as to how things went.

"It was really cool! There's so many worlds out there!" Goten exclaimed.

"Eh, some were cool, some worlds were full of dicks. We got thrown out of this place called Anteiku because… I dunno. I didn't think there was an issue."

"The issue was you wouldn't put on pants!" Goten retorted and Skorch looked around with narrowed sockets.

"I was wearing shorts. What's the freakin' problem!?"

"It… never mind."

"I'm sorry, what?" Bulma asked.

"Nothing mom." Trunks shook his head, which clearly wasn't a satisfying answer for the scientist.

"Oh yeah, here." Skorch remarked, tossing Beerus and Champa a bag each. "This is really popular right now in some worlds, especially D-Zero. It's a fried chicken sandwich from this place called Popeyes."

It was now that Universe Six's fighters finally got a better look at the over-coat-wearing-flaming-skeleton-thing that apparently now fought for them. Skorch was swaving as if listening to some inaudible music before noting the awkward looks on some of the Fighters' faces.

"Okay, so. I have a question about your rules. If someone makes a bet that involves you, and the bet involves you doing something for them, are you still bound by your rules?" Beerus asked. Champa meanwhile, took a bite of the sandwhich and then went to twon on it.

"No." Skorch said simply, and Beerus exhaled deeply.

"Well… shit." He cursed.

"If a Watcher has revealed themselves to the warriors of a world, they can effectively forgo the rules concerning changing things if they are not the ones who make said deal or bet three times. Thing is, I can't be ordered to wipe out a world or drastically change a timeline through this bet, but other than that, anything goes. It's kind of the Catch-22 of the Code. That I also realized I never told any of you. Why?"

"Skorch… you fight for them now." Beerus muttered, motioning to Champa and the Universe Six fighters, and not noticing Champa switch bags with him. Skorch raised a non-existent brow at the remark. "I made a bet with Champa, and now you will work with his fighters for the time being."

"Okay, cool." Skorch shrugged, taking his shirt off and putting one on that read 'Eat Shit Universe Six!' Which he then crossed 'Six' out and wrote 'Seven'. "Hey boss." He said as he walked over to Champa's side of the group.

"I'm sorry. WHAT?" Bulma exclaimed. "When did this happen?!"

"Ten minutes ago." Vegeta replied flatly.

"And you just let this happen!?"

"If you want to argue with the Gods of Destruction about a bet they made, go ahead." Roshi replied, and everyone remained silent, knowing that they probably wouldn't win that argument. "Besides, he has some rules, so we're kinda hoping for the best on that front right now."

"The next fight will begin in five minutes! Universe Seven's fighter Vegeta will face off against Universe Six's hero Frost!" The announcer suddenly declared, getting everyone's attention. Unsure of what else to do, they returned to the area to continue the tournament. With Vegeta and Frost going head-to-head next, and then should Vegeta fall, Majin Buu would fight. Or so everyone believed. Needless to say, this tournament was somehow getting even weirder than anyone had expected it would be…

* Thanks to SASKorrok on Reddit for this thought. I don't know if it's one-hundred percent true, but it sounds like a reasonable assumption. Hence why I said 'theory'.

Also, sorry there wasn't a description for what each of Nightmare's attacks do, I had a lot of trouble finding stuff for him aside from the general wiki. I'm not really a Soul Calibur player.

Also, also, if you wonder why I haven't done a lot of the female Death Battles, three reasons:

One, I try to avoid two consecutive battles from the same franchise. Since I did Mario vs Sonic and Hercule vs Dan, that meant I couldn't do Chun Li vs Shiranui, Cammy vs Sonya, Peach vs Zelda, Amy vs Ramona, or Ivy vs Orchid.

Two, there aren't a lot of all-female fights. Sure, there's Tifa vs Yang and Weiss vs whatever her name was, but there isn't much else (aside from Cammy vs Sonya, but again, see above).

Three, …okay maybe there was only two.

Anyhow, until next time, keep your lights shining, and I'll see you all around!