The Hellbound Guest
He loosened his fist, then clenched it again, the cracking sound of his knuckles echoing through the silence.
A steady voice shattered the deathly stillness of hell. "Good." Golden light finally broke free of its restraints and burst forth from his body, initially like sparks, but instantly transforming into raging flames.
In the darkness, his figure was illuminated like a lighthouse, standing out starkly against the surrounding decay and despair, yet exuding an indomitable spirit, as if saying: whatever comes, I will accept it all.
"Then let's go."
The devastating news of the opening of the Gates of Hell spread like wildfire across the world.
Initially, the incident only occurred on the isolated island where Android 17 was stationed, but soon, from the spire of the Tokyo Tower to the facades of New York skyscrapers, from the dunes of the Sahara to the permafrost of Siberia, countless black holes suddenly tore open in the sky, like festering wounds that could not be plugged no matter what.
The mouths of those abysses spewed out pungent sulfurous smoke, and black fumes dripped down like asphalt, scorching the earth.
Then, the item came out.
Not human.
It is a monster returned from hell.
The remaining lizard soldiers of Frieza Force marched in neat, stiff steps, their mechanical eyes flashing red light; Cell's inferior clones flapped their tattered insect wings, emitting a sickening buzzing sound.
More numerous were indescribable freaks—giants of flesh pieced together from resentment and remains, multi-eyed monsters oozing acid, undead warriors dragging chains with exposed bones... They surged forth from every black hole like a burst dam of the Styx, directly submerging humanity's most prosperous cities.
West City.
The giant holographic billboard in the commercial street shattered into countless colorful fragments in the explosion.
A rhinoceros monster covered in rock armor burst through the glass curtain wall of the department store, sending luxury goods, glass shards, and blood flying everywhere.
The mother, clutching her child, huddled behind the overturned hovercar, watching a shadow covered in tentacles glide across the ground, tearing and crushing fleeing people like dolls.
East City.
The bridge was snapped in half by immense force, and burning cars fell into the Black Sea like toy cars.
The Six-Armed Skeleton Swordsman leaped between the bridge piers, his blade flashing as he sliced the police mech into pieces.
South City.
The glass dome of the botanical garden collapsed with a deafening roar, and vine monsters emerged from the ground, wrapping around the skyscrapers, their constricting steel and concrete emitting chilling groans.
North City.
The artillery fire from the military base illuminated the night sky, but it couldn't stop swarms of flying demons.
They swooped down, and with a gentle tear of their claws, they sliced open the tank's armor.
Screams became the background noise of the city, like the buzzing wind.
The explosions sent sparks flying one after another, turning the thick smoke a dark red.
The sirens wailed and echoed between the high-rises, eventually blending into a desperate symphony of civilization's death.
***
Capsule Corporation, courtyard.
The night wind carried the distant stench of burning and a faint smell of blood.
Qi Heng stood alone in the middle of the lawn, his black clothes almost blending into the night.
He slightly raised his head, his golden pupils reflecting the flames burning in many places on the horizon, calm as if nothing had happened.
His senses had long since spread across the globe like a spiderweb; every nascent evil, every desperate scream, felt as if it were pressed against his fingertips.
It was Mr. Popo cold, violent, and hateful energy spreading and gnawing across the Earth's skin.
"Qi Heng!"
Suddenly, hurried footsteps echoed in the courtyard.
Trunks burst out, already dressed in his Battle Suit, his purple hair disheveled, his young face filled with anxiety and anger, his fists clenched so tightly his knuckles turned white.
"Those monsters are everywhere, the army can't stop them at all, we—"
"Go clean it up."
Qi Heng didn't even turn his head. His voice was as calm as a still lake, yet so forceful that no one could refute it, completely silencing Trunks' remaining words.
He was still gazing into the distance, as if admiring the scenery.
"These lowly minions who crawled out of the rifts of hell aren't worth my time. You can handle them."
Trunks bit his lower lip hard, almost drawing blood.
It wasn't hesitation; it was the forced suppression of simmering anger and impatience into a fighting resolve.
He took a deep breath of the smoky air and nodded emphatically.
"Understood!"
Boom!
The golden aura was fully unleashed, instantly turning the courtyard into daylight, and the grass blades were pressed tightly to the ground by the airflow.
Trunks transformed into a golden meteor, trailing a long tail, and flew towards the nearest city area engulfed in flames.
As if that had set a precedent, dazzling beams of light began to rise into the sky around the Capsule Corporation.
Gohan unleashed a bolt of purple lightning that streaked across the city sky, his figure so fast it almost left an afterimage.
Below, just as the three-headed beetle, which was tearing apart the elevated road surface, looked up, Gohan crashed down like a meteorite.
"Drink it!"
With a short, sharp shout and no superfluous movements, a swift, circular elbow strike enveloped in intense purple energy shattered the three monstrous heads like ripe watermelons. The headless bodies froze for a moment before collapsing to the ground.
Piccolo hovered atop the TV tower, his emerald green arms crossed over his chest, his hawk-like gaze sweeping across the entire city.
"Special Beam Cannon!"
A deep voice rang out, and the spiral light gun at his fingertips suddenly shot out—not just one, but dozens of thin white beams, precisely traversing several kilometers, piercing through the flying demons one by one, exploding into fireballs in the air.
Further into the city, Uub weaves through crowds and monsters.
He threw punches and kicks with every single one of them, each strike carrying the force to split mountains and shatter rocks, breaking bones and collapsing walls as the hellish soldiers were battered and bruised.
Pan was much more agile; her high-speed movement created a whirlwind, turning the debris into a small tornado.
With a series of swift movements, she unleashed a barrage of energy blasts that swept across the street like a storm, wiping out large swathes of low-level monsters.
The heroes are fighting.
They are like lighthouses in a dark ocean, illuminating isolated islands in despair.
The wind howled from the punches, the Ki Blast roared, and the monster's severed limbs and screams flew into the sky.
But really, there are too many.
Just as one block was cleared out, more shadowy figures emerged from alleyways, subway stations, and even under manhole covers.
They can't be killed off no matter how many times they're killed; they're impossible to stop.
Gohan had just cleared out a street of monsters with a Kamehameha catch his breath, more than a dozen strange-looking creatures emerged from the ruins, howling as they charged towards him.
"This can't go on!"
Gohan was sweating profusely, and his breathing became erratic.
He punched the head of Skinless Hound Monster charging from the side into its chest cavity, then followed up with a spinning kick, snapping an Insect Monster in half at the waist, splattering his viscous fluid all over him.
"There are too many! We can't possibly kill them all! Their source is those black holes!"
Piccolo appeared beside him like a ghost, having just crushed the head of a Sniper Monster in the distance with his outstretched arm.
His green face was furrowed, his gaze fixed on the crack in the sky above, from which monsters continued to spew forth.
"Calm down, Gohan. These are just appetizers, the scraps and cannon fodder poured out of hell."
His voice was metallic and cold, "The truly troublesome ones... are still lurking behind. I can sense several extremely powerful forces waiting for us behind those largest passages..."
It was as if to confirm Piccolo's ominous prophecy--
Boom!!!
A deafening roar, more muffled and deafening than any explosion before, erupted from the clouds.
It wasn't just one spot; the entire sky was trembling.
Immediately afterwards, in the center of the largest and deepest black hole above the West City Capital, which resembled a swirling dark nebula, space suddenly collapsed inward and then expanded violently!
A massive, mountain-sized foot, covered in dark purple biological carapace, slowly emerged from the center of the black hole.