Rattled under the force of the tug-of-war match, the main structure of Capsule Corp stood crumbling as the center point of the epic clash. While the employees and spectators inside were doing their best to regain their bearings, the Z-fighters out on the lawn were already on their feet and limping from their places of rest. With Vegeta clutching his arm, Videl supporting Goten with her arms, and Piccolo slumped forward on his knees, the group of warriors looked up to see their newly transformed ally drop down from the sky and land in the center of the ruined grass.
Covered in a light sheen of sweat, breathing heavily, but still looking as radiant and battle ready as ever, the Hera locked her eyes firmly on the sky above. Rather than concern herself with the damages in her surroundings, the woman was more worried about the outcome of the fantastic duel she'd just had. What with the capabilities she witnessed Hasky pull during the entire course of their battle, it was clear to see why she still appeared so tense.
Zangya narrowed her eyes when her senses reached up into the atmosphere above earth, "It's not over yet…"
Sure enough, exactly five seconds after uttering those words, sonic booms echoed down from above, which was instantly followed by a bolt of gold light descending from the sky. This missile of photons crashed into the ground several yards in front of Zangya, where it quickly expelled the heat and flames enveloping it, and revealed a burnt and battered Hasky kneeling underneath. Upon rising up from the ground, the incredibly frazzled assassin huffed and focused all of her ire upon her foe.
Much to her scorn, the Hera wasn't intimidated by her return in the least.
Red lines glowing and golden sparks shooting off of her overly charged suit, Hasky conjured up another pair of swords behind her, which bled into the real world in a shimmer of light. While the Z-fighters looking on from a distance took a major step back in fear of another assault, Zangya simply held her ground and watched a smile form on her enemy's face.
"You know… I'm really glad I was able to have this fight. Do you want to know why?" the thief asked in a smug tone of voice, before craning her head towards her opponent. "What you did today was something no other person has ever done before… and that is making me want to kill someone more than anyone else I've ever met in my entire life. Seriously. That is an accomplishment worthy of the highest praise." Her leer increased considerably as she then decided to press a few buttons of her own. "I can expect no less from a woman who wants nothing more than to protect the man that she loves. Too bad that person will never, ever return those feelings to her… especially to a green, alien harlot like you."
Eyes widening and shoulders jerking upwards, Zangya felt the tension representing both her patience and her mental fortitude snap. The jab to her sense of self as well as to her heart was enough to prompt a series of flashbacks to pass through her mind. Images of days she'd spent with Gohan, training with him, eating with him, interacting with his family and loved ones, and seeing his smiling face beaming back at her as he lifted her up from a hard fall, on top of her enemy's uncorroborated slander, were more than enough to set her off.
With menacing snarl, the Hera suddenly stuck her arm out and summoned her race's triangle-guard rapier, which flashed into form and fell into her hand. As soon as her fingers wrapped around the handle, the woman took it into a duel grip, cranked it back, and lunged forward with a bellow of rage. "You… damn… BIIIIIIIIIIIIITCH!"
Grabbing her own swords out of the air, Hasky held their blades forward and, smirking wildly, charged towards her enemy in kind. "Let's finish this now… Z-FIGHTEEER!"
Meeting in the middle, the two females crashed into each other at full speed, their impact with one another generating a shockwave that cracked the ground and caused a loud 'clap' to echo across the entire city.
After grinding her rapier into the edges of her enemy's twin swords, Zangya then dragged her blade across and threw the woman off of her with a violent shove. Then, the moment she drew her weapon back over her shoulder, the Hera began hammering away at Hasky's blades without even the slightest bit of care or restraint.
Her aura burning around her in a terrifying inferno, the Hera pressed forward with her attack, ramming and smashing her weapon against the duel swords of her adversary in a blur of movement. Green flashes filled the area around them from the speed of the Z-fighter's strikes, all of which were accompanied by a chorus of loud clangs of metal banging against metal. At first Hasky seemed unaffected by the opening assault and held her ground firmly against the alien's relentless blows. But as the close-quarter melee dragged on and Zangya's energy began to climb higher and higher, the blonde started to back away under the pressure being placed upon her. The assassin held her swords up higher in an effort to stop her foe's rapier from hitting her directly. This did well in keeping her from getting cut.
But little by little, Zangya began to force her enemy into a hasty retreat. Her attacks, lacking any grace, form or choreography, smashed into the blonde's defenses without regard for the woman's wellbeing. Along with the ever increasing pressure of her attack, the Hera's ferocity and intensity escalated, enabling her to push her foe further across the grass at a faster pace. The tension was almost palpable and, as the Z-fighter pressed home her advantage, her rage and anger at the blonde grew to an unheard of height.
Hell. She became so caught up in her battering of her foe that the Super Hera didn't notice that her hands had started to bleed from how tightly she was gripping her sword. Even the Z-fighters watching the fight from a distance were baffled by how fiercely and determinedly their teammate was driving her hits into her enemy. It was unreal.
Like the final, decisive spurt between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader on the Death Star, the Hera hammered, smashed, bludgeoned, cracked, and pounded away at Hasky's defense, desperate to get through. Her speed and strength of her swings increased tenfold when a scream of fury left Zangya's lips, drowning out the sound of her sword knocking the blonde's swords about like a pair of training dummies. She continued to bellow out her war cry the further she pushed her opponent, the sparks of her blade setting fire to their surroundings and causing entire sections of ground to get chopped away under the force of her assault.
Her attack began reaching its climax and, under the blistering onslaught of strikes, a disturbed and bewildered Hasky was trying with all her might just to hang in there.
Arms going numb from blocking, the blonde woman choked out in disbelief, "Ah! Ugh! D-Damn it! There's just… augh… no way!" Noticing her cracking swords, the blonde felt her arms get thrown back when her opponent's bat-like swings crashed against her swords and nearly knocked her off her feet.
She attempted to regain her balance. But the moment the thief skidded to a stop, the blonde then looked up in panic when Zangya, yelling out at the top of her lungs, came barreling down at her with a heavy, downward swing of her rapier. Bringing her blades up, Hasky intercepted the blow, only for both her swords to shatter under the force of the strike that had her recoil in shock.
Seeing the shards of blade fly past her, Hasky gasped in horror. "To think that I'd…" Gritting her teeth, the woman stuck her right arm out and conjured a second weapon into her hand. "DURANDAL!" (Sword of the Paladin Roland)A giant claymore then appeared in her grip, which she took into a two-handed grip, blocked three more of her foe's swift strikes, and drew it back for a charge. Rage burned in her own eyes as she lunged towards her foe with a mighty roar, one that matched the anger of her foe. "… ever be defeated… BY THE LIKES OF YOU!"
Both women roared at the top of their lungs as they charged at each other. The moment they met in the center for the second time, the pair engaged in the fiercest and most violent clash of swords ever witnessed between two warriors on earth. Sparks and metal filled the air with every blow and, as the pair shook the planet with the violent strikes of their blades, Hasky couldn't help but belt out the same curse over and over again every time their blades connected.
It was brutal.
"Damn you! Damn you, damn you! Damn you, damn you, damn you, damn you, damn you! Damn you, damn you, damn you, damn you! Damn you, damn you, damn you, damn you, damn you!" Hasky shouted with every blow she landed, sparks and metal flying as the two warriors chipped away at their swords bit by bit. More flashes and clangs filled the air as Zangya kept pushing her, forcing the blonde to back step and, after several more powerful swings, their clash was brought to an end. "Damn you! DAMN YOU! DAMN YOOOUUUUUUUUUU!"
Their last swings saw their weapons crash across one another with a blinding flash of gold and green, throwing both fighters back under the force of the simultaneous hits. What resulted from that was the swords the two women were holding shattering in their hands, which sent the two stumbling away from one another.
Baffled and alarmed at seeing one of her strongest weapons fracture from the assault, Hasky quickly took action. To prevent her foe from getting the upper hand again, the blonde summoned another cluster of swords in the air directly above Zangya and sent all of the blades shooting down at her in a stream. The golden blades peppered the floor and forced the Hera backwards in a hasty retreat.
After evading the lightning fast rain of metalwork, the Hera pitched her hand forward and fired off a powerful red beam from her fingertip. While Hasky was able to produce a shield in time to deflect it, she only managed to divert the attack ever so slightly, as the majority of it pierced through the plating and struck her shoulder. The round hit her like a gunshot, sending the woman stumbling away and gripping the wound with an agonized yell. In response, the assassin held her hand out and formed a massive dome of swords and lances around Zangya's position, encircling the woman in a manner similar to Piccolo's Hellzone Grenade and preventing her from escaping.
The instant the wall of weapons materialized around the Hera, every single one of them converged on their target in a brilliant flash of light. Their impact with the ground caused a massive explosion, which rocked the estate, and sent rubble and dust hurtling into the sky.
At first attempting to spot her opponent through the thick of the smog, Hasky's gaze then shot upwards in alarm when her sensors located her target. It was there, hovering above the plume of smoke generated by her attack, the blonde spotted Zangya, with a green energy shield surrounding her and her menacing gaze locked squarely on her position. The second she spotted the wayward hero, the assassin wasted no time in producing a wall of swords and throwing every single one of them up at the red haired demon.
Powering up, Zangya dove straight down at her foe at full speed, breaking the sound barrier while simultaneously breaking through the barrage of swords. The field she generated around her deflected every single one of the spears and daggers her opponent lobbed up at her and, after performing a few aerial maneuvers to position herself accordingly, the red haired fighter brought her hand back and created a spinning red disk of energy above her palm, which gave off a loud, foreboding hum.
Hasky snarled in frustration when she saw her barrage of weapons wasn't working. So, opting to change tactics for one last hit, the woman once again threw her hand out and summoned her most powerful weapon. The cuneiform spire of Ai materialized next to her and, as soon as it gained form, the thief grabbed it, poured all her energy into it, and swung it forward in a stabbing motion to carve right through her opponent with a single swing.
"DISAPPEAR INTO OBLIVION! A-"
"LIKE HELL YOU WILL!" Zangya screamed before swinging straight down at her opponent.
In a flash of light and a sharp bang, the Hera dropped right down in front of her target and, with her red energy disk, sliced the woman's arm clean off. The hand that Hasky was using to swing the sword, remained firmly attached to the weapon's handle as it flew out of reach, leaving the blonde standing there, with blood flying out of the stump in her shoulder to splatter over her face and the ground.
Upon cutting the woman's link to her strongest weapon, Zangya quickly rose up, produced her race's signature sword for a third time, and turned her glare upon her foe, who was now stumbling away with anger burning in her gaze.
Teeth and fist clenched, the enraged Hasky hissed under her breath, "I'll give you this…" She then looked up and, seeing her opponent coming at her in slow motion, sent one final shout her way. "At this moment… you are the strongest!"
"YOU'RE FINISHED!" Bellowing out one last time, Zangya dove forward and drove her sword into her target.
It all happened in an instant. Stepping back, Hasky was hit square across the chest by the woman's rapier, which sent a spray of blood flying through the air and over the grass. Zangya, meanwhile, followed-through with her strike as far as she could go, sending her opponent flying backwards across the property to slide to a stop several yards away. When her momentum ceased, the Hera collapsed to her knee and remained locked in that position, breathing heavily and glaring at her enemy.
At first everyone thought it was over and that the assassin was beat. What with how clean the strike had landed, there was no way she could've survived. But then, when a few strangled coughs echoed across the property, all of the Z-fighters hanging in the background looked on in disbelief to see that Hasky was still on her feet, with her body slumped forward and a massive scar carved across her chest and suit.
Apparently she'd stepped back just far enough to avoid a fatal shot to her neck and vitals, allowing Zangya's sword to pass over her without killing her.
It was an amazing evasion and one that the Hera had to congratulate her enemy for pulling off. "Figures. You're a tough little bitch, aren't you?"
Blood dripping out of her various open wounds, the stricken Hasky growled, "This fight isn't done yet, scum. I've still got-"
"That's enough, Agent Hasky."
Everyone in the area froze when they heard the deep voice echo across the neighborhood, prompting the Z-fighters, Capsule Corp staff, and the assassin in question to look around in alarm. Expressions reflecting both surprise and alarm, Zangya and the rest of her group attempted to narrow down the source of the interruption. But as Videl, Bulma, Trunks, and everybody else quickly realized, it is that the sudden interference had in fact come from a series of loudspeakers…
None of which they could actually see.
However, this turned out to be the least of their concerns, because by the look on the blonde assailant's face, she knew who that altered voice belonged to, and she looked terrified.
"B-Boss? Wh-What are you-?"
"I'm calling it in now, assassin. You've completed your mission and gave us a substantial amount of information to work with. But now I need you to return to base so that you can be properly debriefed," the voice continued, flooding the area with the deep echo of his commands.
At first shaken up to hear her employer speaking directly to her, the one-armed, battle damaged woman then turned to the sky and, with a desperate look on her face, spoke up in response. "B-But boss… just give me a few more minutes to finish the job! I know I can beat these guys if you just-"
The man on the other end of the line laughed, stopping the woman's pleading in its tracks. "Even if you had all your limbs intact, you are nowhere near strong enough to finish this fight. Even from the very beginning I knew you couldn't win. I sent you out there only as a test to see what the Z-fighters were capable of… and you performed that task beautifully. But now that you've lost an arm, depleted Ai's energy core and knocked out your armor's primary servos, it will take me a whole year to repair all of the damages you've taken." The man on the other end sounded as though he was losing patience and, after making this known, finished relaying his instructions to his nervous subordinate. "We will discuss your performance when you get back. Now return to base. That's an order."
Hesitant at first, the woman eventually managed to get her anger, frustration and pride under control. After biting her tongue and breathing out in annoyance, the exhausted and thoroughly beaten blonde then turned her glare back to the Z-fighters. When she saw all of them get to their feet and a couple of them begin approaching her position with caution, she then shot a look back at her opponent.
When she saw the transformed Hera glaring back at her with equal exhaustion and hatred burning in her eyes, the thief quickly popped the question. "Your name is Zangya, right?"
The red haired alien with the sclera nodded, "Yeah."
"Hasky," the blonde shot back. Upon which she then narrowed her eyes and pointed across at the Z-fighter with her one remaining arm. "Remember that name well, mongrel, because even though you won this battle, the war isn't over between us. When I come back and you've gotten stronger, we will have our rematch… and when we do… I will be sure to kill you."
Hearing her loud and clear, Zangya's frown deepened and she nodded, "I'll be waiting, bitch."
Smirking, the blonde assassin raised the hand she'd used to point and thrust it towards the ground. This caused a blast of dust to envelop her and shoot into the air. When the cloud eventually settled moments later, it revealed the woman had disappeared. Whether she'd vanished through a teleport or fled the scene in the conventional manner nobody knew, since her energy signature was constantly masked. However, what the Z-fighters did know was that their battle with the intruder had finally come to an end… for the time being.
Upon seeing Hasky was now gone, Zangya allowed her head to drop and, with a sigh of relief, she reverted back to her base form.
Despite what the blonde had said to her, the Hera knew without a shadow of a doubt that she'd fought the good fight… and won.
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