Vegeta's foot caught on a piece of rubble as he stumbled back, his perfect balance broken for just a fraction of a second.

The world blurred again.

Satou appeared on the opposite side of the square, Lyra cradled carefully in his arms despite the violence of his movement. He set her down gently against a wall that was still standing, his hands shaking as he checked her pulse.

Alive. Barely, but alive.

"Stay here," Satou whispered, his voice barely controlled. "I'll handle this."

He stood slowly, turning back to face Vegeta.

The bloodlust that erupted from Satou in that moment was unlike anything the settlement had ever witnessed. It wasn't just anger. It was wrath given physical form, so intense that the very air became oppressive, suffocating.

The ground cracked further. Small stones began to levitate from the sheer pressure. Shadows that belonged to Vegeta actually recoiled, pulling back from the overwhelming presence.

Wounded warriors who'd been barely clinging to consciousness felt the bloodlust and found strength they didn't know they had. This was their leader. Their protector. And he had returned.

Satou's yellow eyes glowed with an inner fire, reflecting the flames consuming his village. His body trembled with the effort of not immediately attacking, of not losing himself completely to the rage.

When he spoke, his voice came out as a growl that barely sounded human.

"Why?" Each word was precise, controlled, dripping with barely contained fury. "Why did you do this?"

Vegeta had recovered from his surprise, his arrogant smirk returning though it looked slightly more forced than before.

"Why?" he repeated, brushing imaginary dust from his shoulder as if being physically overpowered was just a momentary inconvenience. "I did it because I can. Because I enjoy killing you irritating monsters."

He gestured around at the destruction with casual indifference, though his eyes never left Satou, assessing this opponent who'd managed to surprise him.

"You really thought you could build something here? Play at civilization?" Vegeta continued, but there was an edge to his voice now, a hint that he was taking this more seriously. "You're goblins. Orcs. Monsters that exist only to be exterminated by those stronger than you."

Shadows gathered around him again, but this time they moved defensively rather than aggressively.

"I'm Vegeta, the Shadow Hero. Blessed by gods, granted power beyond your comprehension. And you?" His smile widened, though it no longer reached his eyes. "You're just another monster. Though I'll admit, you're more interesting than I expected. That speed just now... and the way you tore through my shadows. Not many can do that."

Satou's hands clenched into fists so tight his claws drew blood from his own palms. The blood dripped onto the scorched earth, sizzling slightly from the heat of his rage.

"You destroyed my home," Satou said, each word precise and cold. The rage was transforming, crystallizing from hot fury into something far more dangerous. "You killed my people. You hurt those under my protection."

"Yes," Vegeta confirmed, his casual tone at odds with the way his body had tensed, ready for combat. "I did. And it was fun. The way they screamed when my shadows tore through them. The desperation in their eyes as they realized they couldn't fight back."

He pointed at Urgak's pinned form. "That orc chieftain over there? He actually managed to land a hit on me. First time anyone's done that in months. So I made sure to break him slowly. Made him watch as I destroyed everything you built."

Around them, the surviving goblins and orcs watched in stunned silence. Some had tried to move forward to help, but the shadows still held barriers, keeping them at bay. They could only watch as their leader faced down the monster who'd destroyed their home.

Jessica and Kelvin stood together, tears streaming down their faces, their hands clasped tight. They wanted to help, wanted to fight, but even in their grief, they understood this was beyond them.

"You made a mistake coming here," Satou said quietly. The bloodlust was still there, still oppressive, but it was controlled now. Focused. Deadly. "A fatal mistake."

Vegeta's grin returned full force, though his stance remained defensive. "Oh? And what are you going to do about it, little goblin? You just saw what I did to your precious settlement. I slaughtered dozens without breaking a sweat. What makes you think you can do anything but die?"

The shadows around Vegeta intensified, rising up like tsunami waves of darkness ready to crash down. But unlike before, when he'd casually destroyed the settlement's defenders, his power was now fully engaged. This opponent required his actual attention.

"I'm a hero," Vegeta continued, though there was less mockery in his voice now. "Blessed by gods. I've killed demon dukes. I've wiped out entire armies. You're nothing but an insect pretending to be something more."

Satou's response was simple.

He smiled.

It wasn't a happy smile. It wasn't even a particularly angry smile. It was the smile of a predator that had finally found prey worthy of the hunt. The smile of someone who'd crossed a line they could never uncross.

"You talk too much," Satou said.

Then he moved.

The air itself screamed as Satou moved.

His body became a blur of motion, closing the distance to Vegeta in a fraction of a second. His fist, wrapped in crackling energy from multiple enhancement skills firing simultaneously, drove toward Vegeta's face with enough force to shatter stone.

Vegeta's head snapped to the side, shadows instinctively forming a barrier. The punch connected with the shadow shield, and the resulting shockwave exploded outward.

BOOM!

The ground beneath them cracked like glass. Nearby buildings that had somehow survived the initial assault shattered. Wounded warriors were thrown backward by the concussive force, tumbling across the scorched earth.

Vegeta slid back several feet, his shadow shield dissipating. A thin line of blood trickled from the corner of his mouth where the impact had rattled him despite the protection.

"Well," Vegeta said, wiping the blood away with his thumb. "That's more like it."

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