Dragon Ball Roshi

"I will kill you."

'Am I... going to die? Is my life, as Piccolo, about to end today?'

Not just you, the entire demon race must die. I will exterminate every last one of you.

"No... No! No! The fire of the demon race will never be extinguished! It cannot!"

What can you do?

'This time, I've lost... but I, Piccolo, will never admit defeat! I will rise again from the ashes and make the entire world bow before me!'

But you're already as good as dead.

'I still have children! Demon children! My child! He will inherit my power, my memories, my hatred! He will possess everything I had! He will become the new me! He... is the future of the demon race!'

Piccolo consciousness was clouded, as if he had fallen into a trance.

In his pitch-black inner world, Piccolo shouted to the void, a vast world around him, yet empty. His eyes bloodshot, he swore to the unseen voice, vowing he would not fail here. He would return in a new form, and when he did, the whole world would tremble beneath his feet.

"Wait for me! Hahaha..."

A pair of massive, godly eyes, as if the eyes of a divine being, stared down from above, like a blazing sun or a bright moon, shining on the laughing Piccolo, yet not casting a single ray of light.

---

"Glug... glug..."

Piccolo's chest began to swell under the grip of the massive ki hand. The expansion moved toward his neck, forcing it to stretch to an unnatural thickness. Then, he opened his mouth wide, a white substance slowly emerging from his throat—

"Glug... glug..."

Piccolo couldn't tell whether the noise was coming from his chest or his throat. His mouth opened wider and wider, the gap between his upper and lower jaws reaching an impossible angle. Finally, with a loud "whoosh!" he forcefully expelled a large, oval-shaped egg.

The egg was covered in a sticky fluid, possibly similar to the amniotic fluid of a Namekian.

"Hah... hah..." Piccolo gasped for air, nearly exhausted. As he was squeezed by the giant ki hand, he watched the egg fall to the ground in disbelief. He hadn't intended to lay an egg. In front of Taro, not even he could escape. What good would an egg do? Taro could kill him, and he could certainly kill his offspring as well. It was all meaningless.

But for some reason... just moments ago, a voice had whispered in his ear like a devil, compelling him to have that intense thought. That voice clouded his judgment, making him believe the situation was merely a momentary slip-up. Though he was defeated, his child would come again.

It's him!!

Piccolo's heart skipped a beat. He finally remembered—this "illusion" had occurred during the battle a hundred years ago, when he was sealed away. This feeling, this wavering of the mind...

In his dazed state...

The massive ki hand tightened completely!

Boom!

The once invincible king demon Piccolo was finally crushed, reduced to a pile of flesh and blood. The massive ki hand loosened its grip, then swung through the air, hitting the scattered remains of Piccolo's body like rain, and boom! The searing ki blast evaporated every last bit of his blood and flesh, leaving not a trace behind.

Taro dissipated the ki hand and looked up, casting a deep gaze toward the sky.

Flap… flap…

The Undying Bird flapped its wings and descended from the sky, landing atop the giant egg. It raised its claws slightly, clearly displeased with the slimy residue on the eggshell. Its eyes darted around, eyeing the egg mischievously, seemingly debating whether to peck a hole in it and eat it.

Taro withdrew his gaze, turning toward the giant egg that Piccolo had expelled. He walked over, and a disciple from the Muten School, puzzled, followed behind, looking at the egg as if it were a demonic fetus.

---

In the Divine Temple.

Kami furrowed his brows slightly, the earlier scene still lingering in his mind. On the Earth below, Taro, appearing as a middle-aged man, looked up toward the sky, as if meeting his gaze, his expression full of meaning.

What was even more strange was that Piccolo had left behind his bloodline just before dying. Such a futile action seemed bizarre.

After all, if Taro had already decided to kill Piccolo, with Taro's current strength, why would Piccolo expel an egg in front of him? Wasn't that just an unnecessary move?

He would never have guessed that the reason Piccolo chose to expel the egg at the moment of death was entirely due to the combined influence of Taro's eye technique and mental magic.

"Kami!"

A voice surged into Kami's mind. He was stunned for a moment, then realized it was the voice of Mitsurugi. Kami quickly turned his attention back to the battlefield in the ruins of Earth's capital, where Mitsurugi, frustrated by the red and black demon kings' interference, was shouting toward the sky.

Having cultivated in Heaven for many years, Mitsurugi was able to use his powerful mental will to affect the Kami mind, making the connection possible.

"Mitsurugi, what is it?" Kami hurriedly asked. If Mitsurugi fell, Earth would be doomed.

Mitsurugi, with a halo above his head, looked at the red and black demon kings, who were once again preparing to attack together. He shouted loudly, "You said before that there was something on Earth that could bring everyone back to life, right?"

"That's true, but..." He began to explain that while the Dragon Balls could indeed revive people, they couldn't be gathered easily or quickly. It had taken Taro sixteen years just to collect them once, thanks to that strange bird.

"No buts! If it can bring people back to life… then I will fight with everything I've got!!" Mitsurugi roared, his eyes gleaming brightly as white ki flames erupted from his body with a burst!

The red and black demon kings, charging toward him, froze for a moment.

"After all this time, is time to payback!"

Mitsurugi, with no further hesitation, stopped worrying about the possibility of harming any survivors hidden in the ruins of the capital. If they were caught in the blast, it was just bad luck for them! But this was for the sake of all humanity on Earth. They sacrificed themselves, but they would be revived later!

With a punch, his power surged like a dragon!

Bang, bang, bang! The remaining ruined buildings in the capital began to crack and crumble one by one under the force of the punch...

***

The Phoenix reluctantly flew away from the giant egg. It knew from Taro's thoughts that Taro didn't want it to eat the egg or even break its shell.

"Master, what exactly is this?" the Muten school disciple asked as he stood behind Taro. "Piccolo expelled it just before he died. Could it be...?"

"As expected, the demonic aura has already faded... This must be why the second generation of demons had the chance to reform and become good. Old Piccolo's demonic aura was too pure, deeply rooted and irreversible." Taro looked at the giant egg and though, sensing a life force emanating from it. In the original story, not long after Piccolo expelled the egg, the second generation of demons had already hatched.

He shook his head quietly. "Forget it. I'll seal it for now. I'm not in the mood to deal with it. If the opportunity arises, I might let it out. If it has potential like in the original, then fine. If it's still stubborn, then I'll just kill it off. Or... I could control it to merge with Kami, with Kami personality leading. That would resolve one more problem."

In an instant, his thoughts were clear.

"It's just a cat without claws." Taro said calmly. He extended his palm toward the stone nearby, and an invisible force pulled it into his hand.

Then, he released his mental power. Taro closed his eyes, his lips moving as he quietly recited complex and obscure incantations.

On that magic planet, and then on Yardrat, he had studied magic for nearly thirty-eight years with the Holy Mage Ivan, learning almost every spell Ivan knew. The only thing missing was the accumulated experience over time.

The disciple of the Muten school watched in amazement as, under the giant egg, an intricate pattern began to form on the ground, as if an invisible hand was drawing something... It turned out to be a circular magic array, elaborate and covered in dense, strange symbols.

Humming...

Humming...

Taro tossed the stone into the air above the egg, and with a final chant, a special barrier sealing magic was completed. He reached out and pointed at the giant egg in the center of the magic array—

Swish! The egg seemed to be sucked in, disappearing into the small stone suspended above it.