The Summoning of Hell
Dr. Gero walked to the control panel, his aged fingers rapidly tapping on the complex buttons.
He pressed a few key buttons, and immediately the sound of liquid flowing and the crisp clicking of metal meshing came from the machine.
"Hell Fighter 17 and Human 17 use the same blueprint," Dr. Gero said, his voice low and echoing in the laboratory. "There's a special connection between them. Like two sides of a mirror, like a resonating tuning fork. Once Hell Fighter 17 is activated, Human 17 will be completely under our control, and its will will become an extension of ours."
The pale green liquid in the culture chamber began to gush out with a hissing sound.
The liquid level dropped, revealing the upper body of the blond youth.
His skin had a pale sheen under the light.
Suddenly, his eyes snapped open.
Those eyes had no pupils, only a dark red, chaotic light, looking like two cold flames burning in the abyss.
The hatch emitted a piercing hiss of gas and slowly slid open to both sides.
Hell Fighter 17 stepped out, his bare feet touching the cold ground; his footsteps were soft but clear.
He was taller and bigger than Human 17, with clearly defined muscles that looked like they had been sculpted, and he exuded explosive power.
Her long, golden hair cascaded over her broad shoulders, the ends still dripping with residual culture medium.
His face was devoid of any emotion, as if he were wearing a perfect metal mask.
Only those dark red eyes were cold, unfamiliar, and completely inhuman.
"Dr. Gero," he began, his voice low and hoarse, like the scraping of rusty iron, echoing in the deathly silence.
"Very good." Dr. Gero nodded in satisfaction, a near-maniacal smile spreading across his wrinkled face.
"Let's launch the project. It's time to bring our 'creations' back to life."
***
An island on Earth.
As evening approached, the setting sun painted the sea a brilliant golden-red hue.
Android 17 stood on a protruding reef by the sea, his hands in his pockets, the sea breeze ruffling his black hair.
He gazed calmly at the distant horizon, where several seagulls skimmed across the waves.
His life had been peaceful ever since he died and came back to life.
He got married and had children.
Although he doesn't have a job, he lives a good life thanks to his wife's income.
I just got back from a walk and am about to go home.
His wife had probably already prepared dinner, and the child was likely waiting for him on the windowsill.
Ordinary, yet very real.
He was just about to turn and leave when he suddenly froze.
A cold, sharp, and completely unfamiliar will, like the hardest icicle, pierced the deepest part of his consciousness without warning.
That wasn't pain, but a far more terrifying feeling—being forcibly invaded, covered up, or even erased.
"What's going on...?" He tried to raise his hand, but found that his fingers were twitching uncontrollably.
The calm in his eyes vanished instantly, and deep within his blue pupils, a strange red tinge spread rapidly, like ink dripping into clear water.
His consciousness struggled desperately, like a flying insect trapped in a spider web.
He could clearly feel that his thoughts, memories, and emotions were being brutally squeezed and bound by a huge, cold external force.
That force was too strong, so strong that it was impossible to resist, like the weight of the entire hell pressing down on his soul.
He gritted his teeth, veins bulging on his forehead, and the rocks beneath his feet cracked with countless fine lines from the unconscious burst of power.
However, control was gradually slipping into an endless abyss of darkness.
The seagulls in the distance seemed to sense something and scattered in alarm.
Only the sound of waves crashing against the rocks remains, bearing witness to this silent collapse of the soul.
His body was as if seized by an invisible giant hand, and he suddenly rose from the ground, soaring straight into the gray sky.
The sea breeze whistled in my ears, and the dark blue waves beneath my feet quickly shrank into a churning backdrop.
Android 17 gritted his teeth, veins bulging on his forehead, his entire body surging with power as he desperately tried to fight against the will that completely dominated his body.
The muscles bulged, and the joints creaked in protest, but all the struggles were like sinking into the thickest swamp—completely futile.
His arm was lifted against his will by a cold external force until his palm faced the overcast sky above.
"Stop... stop it...!" The roar burst from between his teeth, filled with resentment and anger, but was instantly torn to shreds by the wind high above.
The next second, unstoppable energy erupted from his palm! Two dazzling azure energy beams tore through the air, accompanied by a sharp buzzing and intense heat, shooting straight into the depths of the clouds.
The sky appeared to be pierced by a spear of light, and the clouds collapsed violently inward, forming a huge vortex.
Immediately afterwards--
Boom!!!
The deafening roar exploded silently deep within my soul.
The center of the vortex suddenly exploded and expanded, tearing open the sky with a massive black hole over a kilometer in diameter!
The edge of the black hole writhed and twisted, shimmering with a dark red light like congealed blood.
The light flickered, casting an eerie crimson hue over the entire sea below.
At the center of the black hole is a pure darkness that chills the soul, unfathomable, like the oldest nothingness in the universe, or the open throat of a giant beast, spewing out coldness, deathly silence, and endless resentment and evil.
The passage to hell was forcibly opened.
--West City, Capsule Corporation.
The afternoon sun was shining warmly on the neatly trimmed lawn, creating a harmonious atmosphere in the courtyard.
Suddenly, space twisted violently, and with a sharp "whoosh," Trunks stumbled into the center of the courtyard.
His blue hair was a little messy, and fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. His usually calm face was now full of anxiety and panic, and his breathing was somewhat disordered due to rushing.
"Something terrible has happened!" He barely managed to stand up straight before his eyes scanned the courtyard urgently, immediately locking onto his targets. "Mr. Goku! Mr. Qi Heng!"
Son Goku was talking to Qi Heng in a corner of the courtyard when he heard the shout and immediately turned around.
The relaxed expression on his face vanished the moment he saw the terror in Trunks' eyes, replaced by the sharpness and seriousness of a warrior's instincts.
He strode up to Trunks: "Trunks? What's wrong? Tell me slowly."
"It's Android 17!" Trunks took a deep breath, trying to calm himself, but his voice was still rapid. "He's in the open sea, he suddenly went out of control! He somehow opened a... a huge black hole! Right in the sky!"
"A black hole?" Son Goku frowned immediately and looked up at the distant sky.
Although he couldn't see anything here, he could almost sense that strange, evil aura.
"Yes! Absolutely enormous, the energy reaction was terrifying!" Trunks nodded vigorously, his eyes still filled with the shock of witnessing the scene. "And, before Android 17 completely lost control, the words he desperately shouted were... he wanted you to go to hell alone!"
"Hell?" Son Goku repeated, his golden pupils contracting, a look of wariness and confusion appearing on his face.
He clenched his fist subconsciously, his knuckles making a slight cracking sound.
"This is a trap," Qi Heng, who had been silent until now, finally spoke.
His voice was steady to the point of being indifferent, just like his golden eyes, calm as a still well, yet seemingly capable of seeing everything.
He raised his head slightly, his gaze seemingly piercing through space, landing on the strange phenomenon above the distant sea.
"Dr. Gero, and Dr. Myuu behind him. They've meticulously orchestrated a play in Hell, and the curtain has been raised. The target is clear—it's you, Son Goku."
"Dr. Gero?" Son Goku suddenly looked at Qi Heng, his face filled with disbelief. "Wasn't he already...? Besides, aren't androids soulless?"