Waking for Liek happened much the way it always had, there was no gradual flow from unconsciousness as he slowly regained his senses and his brain rebooted like so many others. For Liek he was completely out one moment and entirely aware the next like a switch had been flipped. Was it related to his Saiyan and Demon natures working in tandem to bring him back to a combat ready state? Who could really know? Not even comparing himself to the only other Saiyan Demon hybrid he really knew, Zaks, could give him an answer.

And May wasn’t much help in his search for answers either, as her Saiyan side was muted to seemingly purely cosmetic.

The first thing the boy did once he awakened was to roll over onto his back as he tested his own mind, allowing it to drift and wander. He had just spent a considerable amount under the influence of mind altering magic, and he thought he felt it receding before he passed out, but he needed to be sure. After a moment he felt no influence from the malignant magic directing his thoughts and emotions. He’d have felt elated if not for the weight of his buried guilt and grief hitting him like the sledgehammer to the face.

A sob wracked his chest as he remembered his Fury Fangs darting about, the emerald beams cutting and slicing their way through Gemini. He’d only met her once and so barely knew her, but their interaction had been friendly as they worked out the logistics of transferring the Gravity Chamber and copying the Saiyan Archives. He’d formed a very positive opinion of the woman from that short interaction and knowing it was his attacks that sealed her fate… he hated it! He hated it so much!

And Zaks, he’d grown to greatly respect the Queen of the Saiyans. She was a just ruler who had wanted to lead the Saiyans to be more then their barbaric ancestors had been, to rise beyond the savagery of their past, kicking and scream if she had to, into a future were they where a functional society in the galactic community. But he’d helped in ending her life, all because of the magic twisting his mind.

And Ayu… the boy barely knew her, but she’d been a pure and gentle soul. She didn’t deserve that fate...

It was like icy talons gripping at his heart and trying to tear it apart in all directions.

After several minutes of just crying on the ground the boy sat up and looked around. His eyes widened as the colour left his face, he couldn’t see or sense Opherla anywhere! Where was she?! Was she alright?! Had Liari killed her after he fell?! Was she still under the Majin’s control?! As full blown panic began to sink in a voice cut through his frantic thoughts-

“Vita is fine, Inheritor.”

“Volda…” The boy whispered slowly as the words registered in his mind. She was fine? If she wasn’t here and he couldn’t sense her then… she likely already returned to the Gau-la-Furia. That made sense, it was a safe haven and their home. Not even Arctic could reach them there, and only those they allowed to do so could even find it. And now that they where free the Gods could lead them back their. Just as they had planned before the whole mess started.

Tears ran down the boy’s cheeks as he muttered, “Thank goodness…”

Although they had done terrible things the objective of the plan had worked; the Gau-la-Furia and all those taking refuge on board remained out of the reach of Arctic, and now Liari. Even if Gemini had given the Majin knowledge of the Saiyans aboard the Arcship it was too late for her to exploit that knowledge. And even if she had, without the connection to the Gods they could never find it, and even if he’d still had a connection neither God would have given up the location when they sensed the mind control.

It was only in this moment, as his mind drifted back to the moment, that he felt the weight of something in his hand. Gripping it he turned it around to have a proper look at it and found it to be a simple golden band, meant for a finger. His eyes widened in confusion for a moment as his other hand reached into his pocket and checked for a certain object, and found it. Pulling it out he looked at it and found the ring he’d purchased with the intent of giving to Opherla, anticipating the events of the battle with Arctic going very differently…

“She left it with you.” Volda explained in Liek’s mind.

After a time in which he just stared at the two rings he grit his teeth and clenched his fists around the rings. He slowly rose up off the ground and hovered for a moment.

No words where exchanged between him and his God. None where needed, it was clear what the boy wanted to do, and the God approved, placing the necessary information directly into the boy’s brain. If you blinked in that moment it would have been all the time he needed to disappear.

Unlike Opherla, Liek didn’t need to manually fly all the way to the Gau-la-Furia. So long as he had the location of where it was, that was all he needed to get to it in an instant. But Volda had provided more then that, he’d given the boy precision information down to exact altitude, speed and heading. More then enough for the boy to appear inside the Training Chamber in the same instant he’d disappeared from the wasteland.

He arrived just in time to see his beloved absolutely decimating a group of holographic foes. It was a sight that brought a smile to his lips and warmth to his chest, even now she could find the strength to push forward. She was right, of course, as guilty and loathsome he may feel, allowing himself to wallow in self-pity to the point of inactivity, although tempting, would achieve nothing.

He was the Prince of the Fury. He had a nation, small as it may be, to lead. To see rise like a phoenix from the ashes of the old Empire. He couldn’t remain stagnant while threats to his people hounded their heels.

The intensity of the gravity did make him falter at first, but the times he had used Gravity Chambers previously came flooding back to the boy in an instant and the techniques for countering the effects all triggered unconsciously, needing no more input then his own breathing.

“Welcome home, Captain Liek. Majin Corruption at 0%. Clearance Confirmed. Would you like to notify Squire Cauri of your return?” The computer chirped.

“Open coms to Cauri.” He replied and received chime telling him he was connected, “Cauri, remain at your station and maintain command for now. I…” he paused as he looked over at his girlfriend, “We… need some time to sort ourselves out a bit.”

There was a moment of quiet until the girl’s high pitched voice replied, “Understood Master… If you need anything, anything at all, just ask.” There was a pause and she added, “I am yours to use as y-”

Liek cut to coms line before she could follow up with anything that make him feel uncomfortable. Her… eagerness… worried him sometimes.

Inhaling to steel his resolve the boy warped over next to his lover as she came to a stop for a moment, making sure he would standing where she would look, just in case she was too into it for her energy sense to detect him. Once her focus was on him he slowly and deliberately walked over to her. If she looked closely she’d have seen the ring she had left with him wrapped around the ring finger of his left hand. Once he was in front of her he knelt down with his head lowered for a few moments. Eventually me managed, “Opherla!” he bit his lip as he faltered, “I… You’re so precious to me… more then I ever imagined anyone could be… I can’t stand the thought of us being apart…” he looked up and into her eyes, “Please…” he lifted his right hand and opened it, palm up, towards her, the ring he’d bought for her resting in the palm, “Please be my bride!”

---

WC: 1,411
Base PL: 221,642

Zeni: 11,687

Bonuses: Rookie Bonus, +7.5% Zeni (looters), X175 Gravity Bonus

Notes: Accepted Opherla's ring and offered Wedding Ring to Opherla

She’d kept her eyes on him the whole time, her focus on him. He’d seen the look she’d cast towards the ring on his finger and he’d seen the emotional effect it had had on her. Months ago, when they had first met, such a reaction would have had the boy panicking in confusion, lost and wondering if he’d done something to distress and upset the young woman he loved so much. But now? Now he was so much more familiar with Opherla that he felt no confusion at her reaction. He could just... tell that the tears where coming from a good place.

Technically his Telepathy was powerful enough to just read her mind to be sure, but that would be a violation of her privacy.

And then his proposal smashed through the floodgates, leaving the lupine girl gushing out all her emotions, confessing to her own confusion as to why he’d propose in the first place, and denigrating herself. The boy smiled sadly at her as she did, his brow creased in an inverted v shape over her words, “Oh, Opherla. I don’t care about that, if anything I’m the weird one for wanting to stand against all odds all the time.” he laughed and looked down, closing his eyes, “But doesn’t that just mean we’re right for each other?” He looked back up at her with a loving smile, “I drive you forward when you would hesitate on your own, while you rein me in when I get in over my head. Together we make a single sensible person!”

As she reached out her left hand he smiled, tears in his own eyes, as he took her hand in his own left, and guided the ring onto her finger with his right. He grinned, “Nothing could make me happier right now. Having you at my side completes me, having you as my Opherla Galswith… it’s like finding the missing part of my soul.”

Although Liek had every intention of being completely faithful to his new bride, others had other plans. Volda and Basireous looked at each other from across the Orgone Layer knowingly and nodded. After all, the boy was to be an Emperor. It only made sense for an Emperor to have a gaggle of Consorts along with his Empress-Consort, at least they thought so.

---

WC: 389
TWC: 1,800

Opherla’s embrace, the warmth of her touch and silkiness of her hair. It thrilled the boy and filled his heart with warmth, warmth enough to shatter the cold grip of his regrets and his guilt, it energised and invigorated like nothing else he’d every experienced. Her lips on his own felt like a magnet, drawing him in and not wanting to allow them to part, all the while sending sparks down his spine as he leaned in to her embrace, feeling comfort like he never had before.

Her first words got him blushing a little as he imagine her in a wedding dress… then on a beach for their honeymoon in a bikini, then her walking towards him while pulling on the straps and-

NOPE! Now was not the time Liek!

He snapped back to reality in time for hear the rest of what Opherla was saying and he sighed sadly, “You aren’t wrong. Still, something to look forward to right?” He inhaled and sighed again, “Yeah… Gemini, Shiso, Zaks and Ayu… Our mistakes cost too many people far too much.” He admitted.

“You aren’t wrong, we need to train even harder then ever before. And we can, we have access to things we never had before.” He gestured to the training chamber, the fully one kilometre wide training area that was also a gravity chamber, “We have so much more room to work with compared to your pod, or even your house.” Gesturing towards the door, “We have healing pods up and running over in the infirmary that can heal us in a day, even if we push ourselves to the breaking point.” He turned back to Opherla with a confident nod, “And the Gau-la-Furia’s stealth system makes the entire ship undetectable, so Arctic and Liari won’t even sense us getting stronger.”

He paused as he remembered something, “And… training isn’t the only path to power, is it?” frowning he looked back Opherla, “I remember something Callion mentioned when confronting Arctic; he accused Arctic of using the Dragon Balls to get stronger…” He looked conspiratorial, “If Arctic can use them to do that… what’s stopping us?”

---

WC: 357
TWC: 2,157

“With how arrogant Arctic was acting I’m not sure if he even thinks others using the Dragon Balls would present a threat to him.” Liek gave his assessment of the situation, “So I doubt he’s going to lift a finger to collect them.” He concluded, additionally he wasn’t sure if Liari would care enough about them to seek them herself. If anything the Majin was more likely to seek them out to draw in someone to snack on, assuming the idea ever occurred to her in the first place.

The Gau-la-Furia was more then just a vessel for crossing the Sea of Stars, it was a self-sufficient home for those on board, able to sustain everyone living on it with a near unlimited power source. It could recycle resources like air and water indefinitely thanks to the five biospheres filtering them, and food and was virtually infinite thanks to the Orgone Replicators. Even materials for repair and construction where virtually unlimited since they could be forged by materialising Orgone. If they wanted to they could just ignore the outside world and live their lives in isolation untouchable and undetectable.

But neither Liek nor Opherla could abide by such a thing. Both felt a driving need to help protect those weaker then themselves and destroy tyranny.

The boy nodded with a smile, but his eyes burning with determination, “Yeah, let’s train.” Without another word he floated slightly into the air and floated a short distance from Opherla. He held his legs out just beyond shoulder width apart with all the joints bent, relaxed and yet ready to spring into action. His left arm was raised and bent at the elbow in a guard position while the right was in front of his chest, chambered and ready to spring into either an attack or guard as needed. Opherla’s lessons into the Furiemshinken hadn’t progressed much beyond Energy Materialisation and Broken Arm, so she wouldn’t recognise the name of the School, or any of them really, from which the stance drew it’s name. The boy’s stance of choice was the Ran-Fa form, the most defensive focused on Furiemshinken’s Schools.

His smile widened into a small grin as he waited in anticipation, both his Saiyan and Demon sides where in agreement in this moment; there wasn’t a doubt that what was about to come was going to be a good fight. No stakes, just a pure fight with a worthy opponent and nothing to interrupt them.

---

WC: 412
TWC: 2,569

Opherla’s leading off with the Broken Arm crystals was perfectly executed and the boy couldn’t have felt more pride in knowing that he was the one who taught her that technique if he tried. The crystals swept about, darting through the air, changing momentum and direction in random intervals just like his own always did.

To think, when the two had met the boy couldn’t even manage the basics of Energy Materialisation let alone wield the kind of power he did now… Back then, even at her base level of power, Opherla had outstripped the boy by at least three or four orders of magnitude. Now they where sparring as equals, and both wielding the arts of a dead species, arts that the universe had thought lost. And he even had another student helming the last and greatest vessel of that race. The same vessel they where training in.

Opherla’s crystals where answered with a set of the boy’s own, the two sets of crystals dancing dizzying circles and streaks through the chamber at blinding speeds, slamming and crashing into each other, sending sparks and fragments of orgone scattering in their wake. Liek kept up the flow of energy to his crystals, allowing them to generate their lost shards as quickly as they lost him, something he had no doubt Orpherla was also doing.

An impressed smirk crossed his face as he observed the way his fiance attacked him, in terms of how her style operated it hadn’t changed, remaining akin to a steamroller coming full force with the intent of flattening the foe with overwhelming ferocity. But what had changed was the form of her techniques, it was clear she was thinking more about how her form worked and how it could be passed on to others. Closed fists where not a part of how she had fought previously, but she was including them now, a sign she was maturing her style from a her-alone form to one meant to be passed on to students.

Her plan of attack would have functioned well against most opponents, but against Liek, the one who had taught it to her, it didn’t work so well. The crystals where barely a distraction, he was so practised in their use he didn’t even think about them anymore, allowing him to counter with his own with dividing his attention. And her head on attacks were met by the pure defensive grace of Ran-Fa, the boy evading and deflecting the attacks as they came. Pure offence slammed into pure defence in a stalemate and not a single one of Opherla’s punches and kicks broke through until she leapt away.

A renewed flurry of crystals flew his way, being met and knocked of course by his own, once again the two sets of crystals clashed and spun like a some kind of mix between jousting and a dog fight. Suddenly the salvo of ki blasts from Opherla filled the chamber and Liek literally leapt into action, an excited grin on his face as he flung himself into the air. He batted blasts away from himself, managing to even send a few back at the wolf girl, using the force to redirect his trajectory and bounced off the spiralling orgone crystals, both his own and Opherla’s to suddenly change directions, constantly moving.

He wasn’t able to avoid all of them, with some hitting harder then others, but all of them ablated across his Energy Field leaving him unharmed. The ones that his harder forced him to adjust his trajectories through the air, but adjust he did and the minor setbacks didn’t bother him any.

Then he suddenly vanished, folding space and time to warp to where Opherla was and launch into a counter assault with a completely different fighting style to his earlier Ran-Fa. It was something new he was working one, something he’d barely started on but he had an idea of where he wanted to take it. And what better time to start practising it in earnest?

The youth swiped at his fiance with an open handed strike, his fingers spread and curled like a claw. Glistening on the tips of his fingers where short green, and sharp, orgone crystals. The motion itself would be familiar to Opherla, as, after all, it was based on her own. But the attack didn’t stop at a single swipe, as the boy followed through with his other hand, the fingers tipped with the same crystals but held out flattened, the entire arm lancing out like it was using the hand like the head of a spear. What followed was a controlled flurry or swipes, spear hands and kicks in a clearly adaption of her Lycanshoto.

---

WC: 786
TWC: 3,355

His Saiyan blood was howling with unrestrained joy! As ki and orgone infused limb clashed with ki and orgone infused limb the blood of the warrior race sang at the thrill of the fight and satisfaction of a worthy challenge! For once his opponent was overwhelmingly more powerful, someone seeking to lord over and mentor him with ridiculous ideas on how to help him or out for his blood. This battle, this sparring match was purely for the thrill, to push himself to the limit! And the Saiyan half of the boy was loving every second of it.

The Demon side of him was equally enjoying the battle. While it didn’t get the same kick out of Liek pushing his limits as the Saiyan side did, it did thoroughly enjoy testing Liek’s wits. Opherla was a fairly straight forward fighter by nature, despite her being the more likely to be swayed to nerves, however she was also adaptable and quick study when the mood took her. Her use of Ran-Fa was a testament to that and it thrilled the Demon blood in Liek, he hadn’t been forced to try to think of a way to get around his own style since his Grandmother had passed. And this was the first time he got to test his tactics while both having mastery of the core Furiemshinken techniques and a comparable strength as his opponent.

That said, just like his own grasp of Lycanshoto was lacking so to was Opherla’s grasp of Ran-Fa. Liek’s attacks with Lycanshoto where not as refined or forceful as Opherla’s, more over he was fairly certain he wasn’t throwing his body into his attacks quite right and that his take on the stance was off balance too. However, considering he had mostly learned the form through observation he didn’t think he was doing too badly overall. The same was true for Opherla’s Ran-Fa, her stance was sloppy with her legs and hands not quite positioned right, and her shoulders squared at the wrong angle. Plus she lacked the Energy Cloud, Fury Deflect and mastery of Flight that the form was built around so she couldn’t use it to it’s fullest. Even so, she had managed to pull it off pretty decently for someone who had learned this much through observation alone.

Perhaps some time after this match they could spend some time properly tutoring each other in the ins and outs of each other’s styles and help each other further refine their techniques. Who knows? Maybe they could even identify and overcome flaws in their own forms through teaching each other.

The Furiemshinken may have been an ancient martial art, but it was forever growing and adapting. He would be a pour Master and Inheritor of the style if he didn’t continue to make it grow, and Lycanshoto would be a worthy incorporation for the style. While the Furieshinken didn’t lack a head on style, Lycanshoto did it differently. Lycanshoto was more wild and unpredictable while Lyran-Shun was more focused on swordsmanship.

The boy’s musings about possible future training where broken as his fiance darted away, dropped Ran-Fa and flared her aura. Between the flaring aura and her cupping her hands it wasn’t difficult for him to piece together what was coming.

Only this time things where different.

Last time she’d done this they had been desperate, trying to push Liek to the breaking point, to unleash the Super Saiyan power that lurked deep within. Last time the weight of the world had been on their shoulders. Last time she hadn’t wanted to do it and had to be convinced. To push him to reach the next level of die trying.

This time there was no weight bearing down on them (other then the increased gravity), no desperation, and Opherla was doing was doing this of her own free will. There was no do or die.

There was only the thrill.

Liek grinned as he leapt back as well, shifting into Furiemshinken’s more balanced En-Har form. He held out his arms to either side and rotated them a quarter circle until one was above and the other below, “KA…” he intoned in time with Opherla, “ME…” He brought the hands together in front of him before pulling them to his side, “HA…” The blue sphere of ki formed between his palms shining brightly. Then he changed the formula, adding something he’d been working on, his Energy Cloud lit up as energy pulsed along it and into the ball of charging ki, mixing and swirling... “ME…” Another pulse over his Energy Cloud and the ki ball in his hand changed colour to green as it ignited!

Thrusting his hands forward in time with his fiance he roared at the top of his lungs, “HHAAAAA!!” as he unleashed his own variation of the Kamehameha towards her! His wolfgirl would he the first to see the fruits of his experiments, the first to witness the Burning Kamehameha as emerald and crimson beams met in a clash.

---

WC: 836
TWC: 4,191
Notes: Spending 4TP to learn [B1OT2] Burning Kamehameha and [B2OT3] Burning Kamehameha

They had been through a lot since their first meeting. Back then, everything had been in the context of his Grandmother, what she had taught him, how she had suggested he live his life and set his goals. He’d been little more then an innocent child, wide eyed and curious as he set out into the world outside the forest for the first time. His heart had been heavy from losing his sole relative, even the relation had not been by blood, and his naive idealism the only thing guiding him. Opherla had been one of the first people he met, and the first to truly welcome him even as he butted heads with that ABAS guy…

Whatever happened to him anyway? He wondered.

She’d made a mistake not long after, but Liek had managed to make enough of an impact on her to set her straight. It had just been an innocent crush for him then. And while he’d had hope for more back then he hadn’t confident in anything happening, after all, Opherla had been so gorgeous. It made no sense to the boy that she wasn’t already spoken for.

Then Callion’s warning had arrived, barely days after Liek had left the forest. The boy could barely wrap his head around the idea of people destroying cities with their power at the time, and suddenly he was thrust into a conflict with someone able to destroy entire worlds? To say he’d been terrified would be an understatement…

Then Callion decided to try and force out his Super Saiyan power by threatening his Grandmother’s soul, setting ablaze any bridge between them that could still be built before it was even finished. He’d forced the boy to awaken the long dormant Demon Within, which he was far from ready to handle. It have been one thing if that was a door that could be closed again, but once it was open it began to claw at Liek’s mind all the time.

And then reading his Grandmother’s letters, the ones detailing his Father’s account of how Liek came to be, it tipped him over the edge. He almost lost himself fully to the Demon, if not for Opherla’s intervention. She’d saved him from the spiralling doubt and self-destructive dysphoria, from the raging rampage the Demon Within would have unleashed. She had started the healing process that had allowed Liek to retain his sanity even after Liari took over his mind.

Through it all one thing above all had become clear to Liek, that was what he held dear, what he was truly loyal to. He’d once sworn to protect the Earth, but having learned much over the last months, having observed how the Earth treats innocent Saiyans and how it acted in the past, the double standards between their accusations about Saiyans and dismissing the actions of other humans as rogue agents all he felt was disgust. The Earth was dishonourable and didn’t deserve his loyalty and protection.

The Saiyans under Zaks had a chance. They could have reformed into an honourable people, an honourable warrior race his Fury could have competed with as equals, driving each other further as defenders. But Zaks had abdicated to Salada, based on what he’d heard from the refugees before the battle with Arctic, and she reported had a more… traditionalist viewpoint. Her Saiyans would resume the senseless genocides of the old Saiyan Empire, sure, she called them conquests, but the total annihilation of planetary species was genocide no matter the motivation. He would offer the Saiyans the chance at reformation as Fury when he revived their world… but those that refused would be deemed as doomed to extinction.

Liari… He’d find a way to erase her entirely. He didn’t know how, but some day…

And Arctic… he didn’t know how Opherla would feel about it, but the boy intended to play at being loyal to the Changeling to keep him off their trail. After all, with Earth no deserving his loyalty or protection the boy felt no guilt in doing what he had to in order to protect what did deserve his loyalty.

His loyalty lay solely with Opherla and the Fury. If Opherla wanted him to protect this world, he would. But he didn’t personally care. So long as she and his Fury survived and emerged the victors that’s all that mattered.

He looked up at Opherla and smiled warmly at her transformed state. He much preferred her red hair with amber eyes to the brown hair and blue eyes of this form, but it was still his Opherla. As she dashed forwards he met her fist with his own, in the moment right before the impact of their fists his eyes flashed red and crimson lines traced their way down from his eyes to his jawline.

If there was one benefit to Liari’s retched mind control it was that it helped unify the Demon and Saiyan parts of his mind, allowing him not only full control over this potent mixture of Saiyan potential and raw Demonic power, but it allowed him to maintain it indefinitely.

---

WC: 853
TWC: 5,044