Chapter 13: Massacre
He had seen things like this countless times before. Hell, he had done things like this countless times before, more times than he'd care to remember. All part of a day's work back in the Living World. He just shrugged it off and did it again and again and again, as many times as was necessary. It never bothered him, nor any of the other Saiya-jin assigned to clearing a planet of its native population.
If it bothered you, then you were no use as a soldier. And if you were useless, you were expendable.
But this time, it seemed.different, somehow. Perhaps the sudden shock of his vision had heightened the sensory experiences of the slaughter. Perhaps the spirit energy had affected his mind, just like Piccolo had predicted.
Whatever it was, it had affected him badly. And he didn't like it.
He didn't like it one bit.
As Bardock, with Tenshinhan and Piccolo at his side, materialized outside the massive entrance to the Check-In station, these feelings only served to heighten his discomfort, and his desire to open that door was fading by the second. Nonetheless, he knew he had to, and so he stepped forward without a word and laid his hand on the almighty ornate handle. Despite it's incredible size, the door swung open with relative ease, allowing them access to the darkened interior.
It was even darker than usual, just like in his vision, with streaks of red intermittently splashed along the roof and walls. Surprisingly, it didn't seem to affect him as badly as it had before. Probably, he told himself, because he knew what to expect.
Piccolo and Tenshinhan had no such luxury. Fionn had been left behind at Sitar, more by accident than anything else. When Bardock had demanded to be returned to the Check-in station, Tenshinhan used his Shunkan Idou almost immediately, almost leaving Piccolo behind as well. He had thought that the spirit energy from the area had begun to affect Bardock just like Piccolo had predicted, and had tried to get him out of the village as fast as possible. Piccolo, however, was determined to discover what had transpired at the Station, and had quickly latched on to Tenshinhan, including himself in the transport as well. Fionn, being further away, couldn't make it in time.
As their vision gradually adapted to the darkness, neither of them could mask their horror at the scene which lay before them, not that either of them really wanted to.
Usually the Station was the very picture of efficiency and urgency, as Lord Enma struggled to skillfully and hastily assign a recently departed soul to a suitable area of the afterlife. As far as everyone knew, there were three possible outcomes. If a soul had led a good, noble life, it was assigned to heaven, where it would someday be given the chance to be reborn in a new body. If it had performed some kind of notable good deed during it's corporeal existence, such as saving a fellow being's life, then it would be granted the use of it's physical body during it's stay in the afterlife. If, however, the soul had led an evil existence, then it would be condemned to Hell for all eternity, never given the chance to be reborn again.
Now, however, none of these fates were being assigned by Lord Enma. His power in the afterlife was limited; too limited, it seemed, to prevent his death at the hands of an unknown assailant. An assailant that Bardock knew, deep down in the depths of his soul, that he had met before.
"I don't.believe it." Piccolo exclaimed as he stepped forward. "Enma Daiou is the Lord of this area of the afterlife. It's not possible that he could have been killed, no matter how strong his attacker was."
"Whoever it was," Tenshinhan said, observing the twisted remains of both the Demon King and the many ogres which served him. "They must have had phenomenal power to overcome so many of the denizens of the afterlife. These creatures may look small, but in the Spirit World their strength is unrivalled. It must have taken incredible effort to defeat them."
Bardock simply stared blankly at Lord Enma's bloody corpse. With a great deal of effort, he formed his own opinion.
"It can't have been an ordinary soul. Lord Enma was strong enough to overcome Raditzu when he first arrived in the afterlife, and Raditzu's power was almost that of an elite Saiya-jin. For Enma to be overcome killed, it would have taken an extraordinary ki level. Only the tiniest percentage of beings would have acquired that sort of strength throughout the course of the their lives."
"Perhaps," Piccolo said. "But you have to realize that when Son and I were alive, we encountered countless beings with enough power to defeat Enma Daiou. Lord Enma may have been strong when compared to the average soul that would come through here, but you need to accept that many species out there have become significantly more powerful than when you were alive."
"Even so," Tenshinhan interjected, "A being would need to have had their physical body to kill Lord Enma, and that means that he would have allowed them to keep it in the first place. He can sense the evil present in a soul, even if it's been dormant their entire life, so I doubt that any of the beings in heaven are responsible for his death."
Piccolo frowned.
"But think about what you're saying," he said. "The only other souls in the afterlife that have retained their physical bodies are those assigned to Hell. I agree with you that no one in Heaven could have possibly killed Lord Enma, but it's equally unlikely that anyone has escaped from Hell. The Gateless Barrier is unbreakable. Even if someone assigned there possessed some form of teleportation ability, Lord Enma would have revoked it before he damned the soul to exist there."
"Why don't you explain it then!?" Bardock exclaimed. "Look at that!"
He pointed to Lord Enma's desiccated body.
"Someone killed him!!", he continued. "And you know as well as I do what happens to a soul when it's killed again! Enma Daiou no longer exists! His life essence has been cleared from both Heaven and Earth! He's gone, forever!"
"I know that," Piccolo dolefully replied. "He was my friend. Don't you think I know that?"
Bardock's face was overcome with surprise. He had never expected Piccolo to show so much emotion on the subject.
"He's dead now, and there's nothing I can do about that," Piccolo continued. "All I can do know is avenge him. And to do that, I need to know who killed him. All I know is that it can't be anyone in Heaven and it can't be any one in Hell. Do you have any idea how frustrating that is?
Bardock stared at Piccolo with a look of understanding long since absent in his eyes.
"I know exactly what you mean," Bardock said dolefully. "When Toma died in my arms, all I could think about was killing Furiza and avenging my race, but when the moment of judgment came, I was too weak. My failure led to my own death and to the destruction of the entire Saiya-jin race. From that moment onwards, I vowed that weakness would never again lead to my defeat, or the defeat of anyone else that I knew."
He paused, and anger flooded his pitch black eyes.
"Piccolo, I swear on the heads of the Super Saiya-jin's of legend, that you will avenge your friend, no matter what the cost."
It was Piccolo's turn to stare in surprise. Ever since they had first met, he had always felt that Bardock had held a deep-rooted resentment towards him, possibly because of his superior strength. But, nonetheless, here he was, offering his help in avenging a close friend of his. Were Bardock a member of any other race, Piccolo would never have taken his offer seriously, but from personal experience, he knew just how fickle the Saiya- jin could be. One minute they hated you, one minute they were willing to die for you. Vegita had certainly taught him that.
"Very well," Piccolo replied. "I accept your pledge. We will avenge this death no matter what the cost, and if the Super Saiya-jins of legend bestow their blessing upon us, then there is no way that we can fail."
He turned to the lifeless Enma Daiou, raised his left hand in front of his face, and extended two fingers.
"Rest in peace, Enma-sama."
Piccolo placed his hand on Lord Enma's chest and muttered something incomprehensible in the Namekian language. A radiant yellow light encapsulated the Demon King's Body, and within a matter of seconds, it disappeared into nothingness. Piccolo then turned and faced the somber Bardock and Tenshinhan.
"One thing I don't understand is why you had a vision of this scene in the first place." he muttered.
A look of surprise crossed Bardock's face. The Namek was right. So far, every single vision that he had been struck with revolved around Kakarotto, or those who knew him. If he had had a vision about Lord Enma's death, then that meant it had something to do with Kakarotto as well. Either that, or someone who shared a close link with him.
"You think he was killed by someone that Kakarotto knew?" Bardock asked.
"Why else would you have had a vision?" Piccolo replied. "They have all been linked by one very important factor, and here that factor is absent. Either it was someone that Son knew, or someone that you knew."
Bardock remembered the voice he heard when he had been stricken with the vision in Sitar. That harsh, cold voice. So familiar.
"I think you're right," he muttered. "I felt some kind of connection with whoever did this, so I obviously met them throughout the course of my life. Their voice..just.struck a chord with me. I feel like I should know it, but I just can't."
Bardock's train of thought was interrupted by an agonized moan which emanated from one of the corners of the Check-In station, causing all three warriors present to jump in surprise. None of them were prepared for the fact that someone had actually survived the massacre.
"Shit!" Bardock spat, as he leapt towards the source of the cry, cursing the fact that he hadn't noticed the survivor any sooner. "Where are you!?"
Some form of spluttering cough, possibly intended to have been a sentence, echoed out of a nearby corner, and Bardock turned to face it. Barely visible in the pitch-black shadows was one of Lord Enma's ogres, one who Bardock recognized as the ogre who had been on call when he and Fionn had visited the Station several weeks ago. The creature had obviously been mortally wounded.
"Dammit!", Bardock exclaimed. From the looks of things, the ogre wouldn't last beyond the next few minutes, but Bardock intended to ascertain who was responsible for the attack before that happened.
"Listen to me, quickly!" he shouted. "Tell me who did this!"
The ogre tilted its head and stared weakly at the Saiya-jin. A faint look of recognition passed over its glazed eyes.
"Oh, it's.you," he smiled. "You're.a strong.guy, aren't.you? Please.help.me.."
Bardock gritted his teeth. There was nothing he could do for him now.
"I'll try," he stated calmly. "Just tell me who killed Enma Daiou."
The ogres' breath became ragged, and a small spot of blood trickled out of his mouth.
"I.don't.want.to die. Please help me."
"I'll try!" Bardock growled. "Now tell me who did this!"
"He.was the one.who came through here.about 7 decades ago. He was.so strong. Those eyes.burning red. He killed Lord Enma."
"His name. What was his name!?" Bardock questioned desperately.
"Something unusual", the ogre spluttered. "He wanted.to know where.you had gone."
"What did you say?" Piccolo said in amazement. "He knew us?"
The ogres nodded its head weakly. "He killed.Lord Enma when he wouldn't say. Then.he said that he would kill us too, so I.I.told him that you had gone to Sitar."
"What the hell!?" Bardock shouted. "How did you know where we went!?"
The ogre pointed at Piccolo. "I.was here.when he got the senzu from Lord Enma. He said.where you were going, so I.told him. I'm sorry, but.I didn't want.to die."
"Damn it!" Bardock swore. "If that thing knows where we went, then it'll head to Sitar as well! Fionn is there!!"
"Shit!", Piccolo growled. "I shouldn't have been so careless. I shouldn't have let anyone know where we were going. Now the dragonballs could be in danger."
"We need to get back there!" Bardock exclaimed. "If this thing was powerful enough to take down Enma and these ogres at the same time, then Fionn mightn't be able to handle it by himself. We have to get there and help him!"
The ogre reached up and grabbed Bardock's leg. "I'm.sorry. I.was.afraid. Please.avenge.Lord Enma. And.good luck. I hope you.can.find.your son, as well."
Bardock looked down in surprise. The ogre was dead.
"Thanks," he muttered.
He turned to face Piccolo, who already had his hand on Tenshinhan's shoulder.
"Let's go," he stated.
"Where should I aim for?" Tenshinhan enquired. "The outskirts, like last time?"
"No. Find Fionn and bring us straight to him," Bardock replied. "He probably doesn't know where we are or what the hell's going on, so the sooner we get there and tell him the better."
"That shouldn't be too difficult," Tenshinhan said. "One lone Kanassa-jin ki in an area populated most by Nameks will stand out quickly enough. Just give me a moment."
Bardock quickly placed his hand on Tenshinhan's other shoulder, and waited patiently for him to complete his search.
"Okay, I've got him," Tenshinhan exclaimed. "He's on the outskirts though, and it looks like he's heading back this way."
"Shit," Bardock grimaced. "He must have realized where we went and decided to follow. Quickly, teleport us there before he gets too far away from the area."
Tenshinhan nodded, and within seconds both Piccolo and Bardock felt the now familiar sensation of molecular disincorporation, as Shunkan Idou began to assert it's effect over their bodies. Within seconds the Namekian dwellings of Sitar appeared around them, as well as a particularly startled Kanassa- jin.
Fionn had to stop dead in his tracks to avoid crashing headfirst into the trio.
"You're back?" he said in surprise. "What the hell just happened?"
"Another vision," Piccolo stated. "So we decided to follow it up. The Check- In Station was just attacked by someone that Bardock knew in the Living World. Lord Enma and all his ogres are dead."
Fionn's jaw dropped as far as was physically possible.
"But that's.not.possible," he stuttered. " I thought he was immortal."
"No one is truly immortal here. Everyone has their match, and he obviously met his," Piccolo said, all hint of his previous emotion gone. "Our main problem now is that whoever is responsible for the massacre is on their way here. The inhabitants of this province are in danger, and so are the dragonballs."
"What we need to do is find the balls as quickly as possible, then prepare ourselves for the battle ahead," Tenshinhan said. "If we get caught unprepared we could end up just like the ogres at the Check-In Station."
"Do you really think this assailant is that strong?" Fionn asked skeptically. "With all four of us here, there's nary a force in the entire afterlife that could take us down."
Bardock turned to him and spoke for the first time since they had arrived.
"Don't let your guard down. I felt something.incredible back there. Something familiar. Something so terrible that my mind won't let me remember it. Whatever that is, it can't be taken lightly."
Fionn nodded solemnly. And suddenly his legs buckled.
A change came over the surrounding environment. The wind ceased to blow. The sun was swallowed by a sudden swath of clouds. It was as if the life has been sucked out of the world.
Piccolo suddenly froze to the spot, his eyes widened in disbelief.
Tenshinhan grasped his head in apparent pain.
A brobdignian ki level had just appeared. They could all sense it, far off in the distance, traveling at phenomenal speed, gathering momentum with every passing second. It was absolutely repugnant, and the very feel of it shook the four warriors to their very souls.
"I.remember. It's.him. He's the one."
Bardock stood paralyzed. His body simply refused to respond. For how could he answer when the one he sensed was the one who had killed him? The one who had destroyed the Saiya-jin, and ended their proud history as a mighty warrior race. The one who had defeated him in an instant, overwhelming his most powerful assault with effortless cruelty. The one who haunted his nightmares, the one he would never forget.
"Furiza."
He had seen things like this countless times before. Hell, he had done things like this countless times before, more times than he'd care to remember. All part of a day's work back in the Living World. He just shrugged it off and did it again and again and again, as many times as was necessary. It never bothered him, nor any of the other Saiya-jin assigned to clearing a planet of its native population.
If it bothered you, then you were no use as a soldier. And if you were useless, you were expendable.
But this time, it seemed.different, somehow. Perhaps the sudden shock of his vision had heightened the sensory experiences of the slaughter. Perhaps the spirit energy had affected his mind, just like Piccolo had predicted.
Whatever it was, it had affected him badly. And he didn't like it.
He didn't like it one bit.
As Bardock, with Tenshinhan and Piccolo at his side, materialized outside the massive entrance to the Check-In station, these feelings only served to heighten his discomfort, and his desire to open that door was fading by the second. Nonetheless, he knew he had to, and so he stepped forward without a word and laid his hand on the almighty ornate handle. Despite it's incredible size, the door swung open with relative ease, allowing them access to the darkened interior.
It was even darker than usual, just like in his vision, with streaks of red intermittently splashed along the roof and walls. Surprisingly, it didn't seem to affect him as badly as it had before. Probably, he told himself, because he knew what to expect.
Piccolo and Tenshinhan had no such luxury. Fionn had been left behind at Sitar, more by accident than anything else. When Bardock had demanded to be returned to the Check-in station, Tenshinhan used his Shunkan Idou almost immediately, almost leaving Piccolo behind as well. He had thought that the spirit energy from the area had begun to affect Bardock just like Piccolo had predicted, and had tried to get him out of the village as fast as possible. Piccolo, however, was determined to discover what had transpired at the Station, and had quickly latched on to Tenshinhan, including himself in the transport as well. Fionn, being further away, couldn't make it in time.
As their vision gradually adapted to the darkness, neither of them could mask their horror at the scene which lay before them, not that either of them really wanted to.
Usually the Station was the very picture of efficiency and urgency, as Lord Enma struggled to skillfully and hastily assign a recently departed soul to a suitable area of the afterlife. As far as everyone knew, there were three possible outcomes. If a soul had led a good, noble life, it was assigned to heaven, where it would someday be given the chance to be reborn in a new body. If it had performed some kind of notable good deed during it's corporeal existence, such as saving a fellow being's life, then it would be granted the use of it's physical body during it's stay in the afterlife. If, however, the soul had led an evil existence, then it would be condemned to Hell for all eternity, never given the chance to be reborn again.
Now, however, none of these fates were being assigned by Lord Enma. His power in the afterlife was limited; too limited, it seemed, to prevent his death at the hands of an unknown assailant. An assailant that Bardock knew, deep down in the depths of his soul, that he had met before.
"I don't.believe it." Piccolo exclaimed as he stepped forward. "Enma Daiou is the Lord of this area of the afterlife. It's not possible that he could have been killed, no matter how strong his attacker was."
"Whoever it was," Tenshinhan said, observing the twisted remains of both the Demon King and the many ogres which served him. "They must have had phenomenal power to overcome so many of the denizens of the afterlife. These creatures may look small, but in the Spirit World their strength is unrivalled. It must have taken incredible effort to defeat them."
Bardock simply stared blankly at Lord Enma's bloody corpse. With a great deal of effort, he formed his own opinion.
"It can't have been an ordinary soul. Lord Enma was strong enough to overcome Raditzu when he first arrived in the afterlife, and Raditzu's power was almost that of an elite Saiya-jin. For Enma to be overcome killed, it would have taken an extraordinary ki level. Only the tiniest percentage of beings would have acquired that sort of strength throughout the course of the their lives."
"Perhaps," Piccolo said. "But you have to realize that when Son and I were alive, we encountered countless beings with enough power to defeat Enma Daiou. Lord Enma may have been strong when compared to the average soul that would come through here, but you need to accept that many species out there have become significantly more powerful than when you were alive."
"Even so," Tenshinhan interjected, "A being would need to have had their physical body to kill Lord Enma, and that means that he would have allowed them to keep it in the first place. He can sense the evil present in a soul, even if it's been dormant their entire life, so I doubt that any of the beings in heaven are responsible for his death."
Piccolo frowned.
"But think about what you're saying," he said. "The only other souls in the afterlife that have retained their physical bodies are those assigned to Hell. I agree with you that no one in Heaven could have possibly killed Lord Enma, but it's equally unlikely that anyone has escaped from Hell. The Gateless Barrier is unbreakable. Even if someone assigned there possessed some form of teleportation ability, Lord Enma would have revoked it before he damned the soul to exist there."
"Why don't you explain it then!?" Bardock exclaimed. "Look at that!"
He pointed to Lord Enma's desiccated body.
"Someone killed him!!", he continued. "And you know as well as I do what happens to a soul when it's killed again! Enma Daiou no longer exists! His life essence has been cleared from both Heaven and Earth! He's gone, forever!"
"I know that," Piccolo dolefully replied. "He was my friend. Don't you think I know that?"
Bardock's face was overcome with surprise. He had never expected Piccolo to show so much emotion on the subject.
"He's dead now, and there's nothing I can do about that," Piccolo continued. "All I can do know is avenge him. And to do that, I need to know who killed him. All I know is that it can't be anyone in Heaven and it can't be any one in Hell. Do you have any idea how frustrating that is?
Bardock stared at Piccolo with a look of understanding long since absent in his eyes.
"I know exactly what you mean," Bardock said dolefully. "When Toma died in my arms, all I could think about was killing Furiza and avenging my race, but when the moment of judgment came, I was too weak. My failure led to my own death and to the destruction of the entire Saiya-jin race. From that moment onwards, I vowed that weakness would never again lead to my defeat, or the defeat of anyone else that I knew."
He paused, and anger flooded his pitch black eyes.
"Piccolo, I swear on the heads of the Super Saiya-jin's of legend, that you will avenge your friend, no matter what the cost."
It was Piccolo's turn to stare in surprise. Ever since they had first met, he had always felt that Bardock had held a deep-rooted resentment towards him, possibly because of his superior strength. But, nonetheless, here he was, offering his help in avenging a close friend of his. Were Bardock a member of any other race, Piccolo would never have taken his offer seriously, but from personal experience, he knew just how fickle the Saiya- jin could be. One minute they hated you, one minute they were willing to die for you. Vegita had certainly taught him that.
"Very well," Piccolo replied. "I accept your pledge. We will avenge this death no matter what the cost, and if the Super Saiya-jins of legend bestow their blessing upon us, then there is no way that we can fail."
He turned to the lifeless Enma Daiou, raised his left hand in front of his face, and extended two fingers.
"Rest in peace, Enma-sama."
Piccolo placed his hand on Lord Enma's chest and muttered something incomprehensible in the Namekian language. A radiant yellow light encapsulated the Demon King's Body, and within a matter of seconds, it disappeared into nothingness. Piccolo then turned and faced the somber Bardock and Tenshinhan.
"One thing I don't understand is why you had a vision of this scene in the first place." he muttered.
A look of surprise crossed Bardock's face. The Namek was right. So far, every single vision that he had been struck with revolved around Kakarotto, or those who knew him. If he had had a vision about Lord Enma's death, then that meant it had something to do with Kakarotto as well. Either that, or someone who shared a close link with him.
"You think he was killed by someone that Kakarotto knew?" Bardock asked.
"Why else would you have had a vision?" Piccolo replied. "They have all been linked by one very important factor, and here that factor is absent. Either it was someone that Son knew, or someone that you knew."
Bardock remembered the voice he heard when he had been stricken with the vision in Sitar. That harsh, cold voice. So familiar.
"I think you're right," he muttered. "I felt some kind of connection with whoever did this, so I obviously met them throughout the course of my life. Their voice..just.struck a chord with me. I feel like I should know it, but I just can't."
Bardock's train of thought was interrupted by an agonized moan which emanated from one of the corners of the Check-In station, causing all three warriors present to jump in surprise. None of them were prepared for the fact that someone had actually survived the massacre.
"Shit!" Bardock spat, as he leapt towards the source of the cry, cursing the fact that he hadn't noticed the survivor any sooner. "Where are you!?"
Some form of spluttering cough, possibly intended to have been a sentence, echoed out of a nearby corner, and Bardock turned to face it. Barely visible in the pitch-black shadows was one of Lord Enma's ogres, one who Bardock recognized as the ogre who had been on call when he and Fionn had visited the Station several weeks ago. The creature had obviously been mortally wounded.
"Dammit!", Bardock exclaimed. From the looks of things, the ogre wouldn't last beyond the next few minutes, but Bardock intended to ascertain who was responsible for the attack before that happened.
"Listen to me, quickly!" he shouted. "Tell me who did this!"
The ogre tilted its head and stared weakly at the Saiya-jin. A faint look of recognition passed over its glazed eyes.
"Oh, it's.you," he smiled. "You're.a strong.guy, aren't.you? Please.help.me.."
Bardock gritted his teeth. There was nothing he could do for him now.
"I'll try," he stated calmly. "Just tell me who killed Enma Daiou."
The ogres' breath became ragged, and a small spot of blood trickled out of his mouth.
"I.don't.want.to die. Please help me."
"I'll try!" Bardock growled. "Now tell me who did this!"
"He.was the one.who came through here.about 7 decades ago. He was.so strong. Those eyes.burning red. He killed Lord Enma."
"His name. What was his name!?" Bardock questioned desperately.
"Something unusual", the ogre spluttered. "He wanted.to know where.you had gone."
"What did you say?" Piccolo said in amazement. "He knew us?"
The ogres nodded its head weakly. "He killed.Lord Enma when he wouldn't say. Then.he said that he would kill us too, so I.I.told him that you had gone to Sitar."
"What the hell!?" Bardock shouted. "How did you know where we went!?"
The ogre pointed at Piccolo. "I.was here.when he got the senzu from Lord Enma. He said.where you were going, so I.told him. I'm sorry, but.I didn't want.to die."
"Damn it!" Bardock swore. "If that thing knows where we went, then it'll head to Sitar as well! Fionn is there!!"
"Shit!", Piccolo growled. "I shouldn't have been so careless. I shouldn't have let anyone know where we were going. Now the dragonballs could be in danger."
"We need to get back there!" Bardock exclaimed. "If this thing was powerful enough to take down Enma and these ogres at the same time, then Fionn mightn't be able to handle it by himself. We have to get there and help him!"
The ogre reached up and grabbed Bardock's leg. "I'm.sorry. I.was.afraid. Please.avenge.Lord Enma. And.good luck. I hope you.can.find.your son, as well."
Bardock looked down in surprise. The ogre was dead.
"Thanks," he muttered.
He turned to face Piccolo, who already had his hand on Tenshinhan's shoulder.
"Let's go," he stated.
"Where should I aim for?" Tenshinhan enquired. "The outskirts, like last time?"
"No. Find Fionn and bring us straight to him," Bardock replied. "He probably doesn't know where we are or what the hell's going on, so the sooner we get there and tell him the better."
"That shouldn't be too difficult," Tenshinhan said. "One lone Kanassa-jin ki in an area populated most by Nameks will stand out quickly enough. Just give me a moment."
Bardock quickly placed his hand on Tenshinhan's other shoulder, and waited patiently for him to complete his search.
"Okay, I've got him," Tenshinhan exclaimed. "He's on the outskirts though, and it looks like he's heading back this way."
"Shit," Bardock grimaced. "He must have realized where we went and decided to follow. Quickly, teleport us there before he gets too far away from the area."
Tenshinhan nodded, and within seconds both Piccolo and Bardock felt the now familiar sensation of molecular disincorporation, as Shunkan Idou began to assert it's effect over their bodies. Within seconds the Namekian dwellings of Sitar appeared around them, as well as a particularly startled Kanassa- jin.
Fionn had to stop dead in his tracks to avoid crashing headfirst into the trio.
"You're back?" he said in surprise. "What the hell just happened?"
"Another vision," Piccolo stated. "So we decided to follow it up. The Check- In Station was just attacked by someone that Bardock knew in the Living World. Lord Enma and all his ogres are dead."
Fionn's jaw dropped as far as was physically possible.
"But that's.not.possible," he stuttered. " I thought he was immortal."
"No one is truly immortal here. Everyone has their match, and he obviously met his," Piccolo said, all hint of his previous emotion gone. "Our main problem now is that whoever is responsible for the massacre is on their way here. The inhabitants of this province are in danger, and so are the dragonballs."
"What we need to do is find the balls as quickly as possible, then prepare ourselves for the battle ahead," Tenshinhan said. "If we get caught unprepared we could end up just like the ogres at the Check-In Station."
"Do you really think this assailant is that strong?" Fionn asked skeptically. "With all four of us here, there's nary a force in the entire afterlife that could take us down."
Bardock turned to him and spoke for the first time since they had arrived.
"Don't let your guard down. I felt something.incredible back there. Something familiar. Something so terrible that my mind won't let me remember it. Whatever that is, it can't be taken lightly."
Fionn nodded solemnly. And suddenly his legs buckled.
A change came over the surrounding environment. The wind ceased to blow. The sun was swallowed by a sudden swath of clouds. It was as if the life has been sucked out of the world.
Piccolo suddenly froze to the spot, his eyes widened in disbelief.
Tenshinhan grasped his head in apparent pain.
A brobdignian ki level had just appeared. They could all sense it, far off in the distance, traveling at phenomenal speed, gathering momentum with every passing second. It was absolutely repugnant, and the very feel of it shook the four warriors to their very souls.
"I.remember. It's.him. He's the one."
Bardock stood paralyzed. His body simply refused to respond. For how could he answer when the one he sensed was the one who had killed him? The one who had destroyed the Saiya-jin, and ended their proud history as a mighty warrior race. The one who had defeated him in an instant, overwhelming his most powerful assault with effortless cruelty. The one who haunted his nightmares, the one he would never forget.
"Furiza."