Chapter 43: Combat Power Off the Charts (Patreon)

Krillin's words had barely faded when a small Ki Blast tore across the sky, streaking toward Turles's energy blast.

Boom!

The energy sphere overhead had only just finished condensing when the small blast punched straight through it.

Turles's pupils contracted. Before he could react, the energy sphere detonated right in his hands.

Ka-BOOM!

Blinding light swallowed Turles as the shockwave swept across the entire area.

Everyone dropped flat against the roots of the Tree of Might, hands clamped over their heads to shield themselves from the blast.

As the roiling smoke and dust cleared, Turles appeared again.

Only now he looked thoroughly battered — his battle suit torn in several places, faint wisps of black smoke curling off it.

"Who's there?!"

Turles steadied himself and swept a furious glare across the surroundings.

"Who dares ambush me?!"

Oryon's figure came racing in from the distance.

He carried himself tall and straight, yet his look couldn't have been more relaxed — loose, comfortable pajamas, and a pair of bedroom slippers on his feet.

He looked like he'd just rolled out of bed, still faintly grumpy about it.

Oryon glanced over Krillin, Piccolo, and the others. "Everyone all right?"

Krillin's face lit up.

"It's Oryon! Thank god. Oryon, hurry up and finish him off — he's not Goku!"

Oryon nodded. "I know. I can tell."

Turles sized Oryon up, fury boiling over. "So you're the one who ambushed me! Die!"

With a roar, Turles charged at Oryon, a fist wrapped in red ki smashing forward.

Oryon's figure flickered and vanished from the spot.

"Wh-where did he go?!"

Turles spun and searched left and right but couldn't pick up any trace of him.

"Idiot. Right here."

Oryon appeared behind him. Turles's reflexes were sharp — he whipped a backward spin kick at the spot behind him.

But Oryon's body dissolved into an afterimage, and the kick met nothing but air again.

"What?!"

Dodged twice in a row now, Turles felt like he was being toyed with.

Sure enough, in the next instant Oryon reappeared right in front of him and drove an uppercut straight into his chin.

The force traveled up from his jaw through his whole body, and Turles rocketed backward like a cannonball, smashing through seven or eight branches of the Tree of Might,

before finally slamming into a rock wall, the stone shattering and burying him underneath.

Yamcha sucked in a sharp breath.

"So that's Oryon... incredible."

"Nice one!"

Krillin shouted it with everything he had left, then winced in pain — he'd been badly beaten up moments earlier and was still seriously hurt.

The pile of rubble burst apart as Turles clawed his way out, looking thoroughly wrecked.

He clutched his jaw, glaring hard at Oryon — and then he noticed it: beneath Oryon's loose pajamas, a tail was swaying.

He took a closer look at Oryon's hair, and his pupils contracted.

"A tail?"

The anger drained from his face, replaced by excitement. "A Saiyan? You're a Saiyan?"

Oryon nodded. "That's right."

Turles lit up completely, throwing his arms wide as he walked toward Oryon.

"A kinsman! Now that's an unexpected windfall!

Your Power Level is strong — really strong!

Why not join me? Sweep across the universe together, planting Spirit Trees—

with the two of us joined up, it won't be long before we rule the entire universe!"

Oryon looked at him with open contempt, a cold smirk curling his lips. "You? Worthy of that?"

The smile froze on Turles's face.

No one had ever talked back to him like that before — especially not to call him unworthy.

"You bastard. Don't get cocky just because you landed a lucky hit. I'll show you my real strength!"

With that, Turles let out a furious roar.

The veins on his forehead bulged as ki erupted violently from his whole body. Black energy coiled and spun around him, blasting all the nearby rubble away.

Turles planted his legs and kicked off, a burst of ki cracking through the air as he shot toward Oryon like a missile.

Oryon raised his right hand, fingers spread, and caught Turles's fist head-on.

Turles swung his other fist, and Oryon raised his other hand just as smoothly, clamping down on that one too.

The corner of Oryon's mouth curled into a cold smile.

"This is your real strength?"

"AAARGH!"

Turles bellowed and threw everything he had into it.

Explosive energy detonated off his body — Oryon didn't budge an inch.

Without warning, Turles opened his mouth and fired a Ki Blast straight out of it.

Oryon instantly let go and dodged aside, putting distance between them.

Turles tapped his Scouter, and the number began climbing wildly.

Five thousand, eight thousand, ten thousand, twenty thousand, thirty thousand...

With a pop, the Scouter abruptly shattered.

Turles snapped out of it as if waking from a dream — he'd assumed his own carelessness was the only reason he'd been getting worked over.

He hadn't imagined the other man's Power Level was actually higher than his own.

Only a Power Level surpassing the wearer's own could make a Scouter blow out like that.

"How is that possible?" Turles said, disbelieving.

"I've eaten so many Tree of Might fruits — how can there still be a Saiyan stronger than me?"

"I'm supposed to be the strongest Saiyan there is!"

Oryon wasn't in the mood for chatter. He charged in again, a whipping kick sweeping toward Turles.

Turles managed to dodge the vital points, but the blow still sent him flying.

His body slammed into the trunk of the Tree of Might and bounced off.

Oryon pressed the attack, closing the distance fast.

Out of the corner of his eye, Turles saw Oryon closing in step by step, and terror spread across his face.

Without a moment's hesitation, he spun and fled, plunging headlong into the dense tangle of the Tree of Might's branches and leaves.