The World of the Two Great Lines {HBTC Nasu}

Nasu had just arrived on Earth and flew straight towards the Timeless Lookout with all of his otherworldly speed and it took him mere seconds to reach it and his training partner was already there, as well as a bunch of other people he didn't really care about. He greeted Tomina with a simple nod of his head and began to make his way towards the place Cornatto had indicated: the door inside the temple area. But before they got in there, Tomina asked if he knew about this place and Nasu stopped, thinking about his answer for a moment. "Yes and no. I knew that every time I attacked they seemed to have increased their power significantly in a way that didn't make sense. At first I thought I was just no good at training, but as it repeated itself I started to notice a pattern. Finally, Cambia told me they had a place where they could train a year in a single day and everything made sense." he said, shrugging after his words and then just proceeded to follow Tomina into the chamber.

Honestly, if Nasu hadn't been dead and everything, he would be completely awestruck and speechless by the chamber. It was completely alien and had no end in it. Everything was just white and empty save for the small chamber they got in to, which had a bathroom, a kitchen, plenty of food and two beds, as if it was designed solely for the purpose of having two people training together. Nasu hmphed as he noticed that and shook his head. "Those bastards... How many times did they use this thing against me. And now I'm using it to help everybody in this universe. Hmph... This world really is a weird one..." he said mostly to himself as he walked into the emptiness before them.

"So..." he started without facing her yet. "Wanna get down to business, or is there anything you want to talk to me about?" he bluntly asked.

Nasu sighed deeply and closed his eyes for a moment. "Kyabe's intel was precise. The timing was good and I believed they would likely split their forces between us and Jarvis, but no. They decided to leave the fate of their world in the hands of a madman to fight me. Well, if history serves any purpose, I should've known that they would target me in the end, but I guess my mistake was to think there was any sort of rational thinking behind the defenders of this place." and even though his tone was mostly neutral, there were clear traces of bitterness; bothered Nasu that people would paint him as a worse villain than Caesar, but he wouldn't outright say it.

Oddly enough, Tomina seemed interested on Cambia's name. Nasu opened his eyes and arched one of his brows, but decided to answer truthfully regardless. "Cambia is my younger half-sister and as for her allegiance, I honestly can't tell. She is the mother of Athren's son, never really joined the gods of Kikiko, or the Alliance." it was a short explanation, but he didn't see a point in dwelling any longer in this topic. When Tomina mentioned the use of the chamber, Nasu nodded once again. "I don't see us using it ever again as well, but honestly, if you look at individual strength, is not like we really need it. And for instance, I'm glad they won't be able to use this to boost their power again." he sighed deeply, gazing away for a moment. "Flare wouldn't stand a chance against you if it wasn't for this chamber. We are elite warriors who value our saiyan heritage. Honestly, that's the only explanation I can think of to justify our superior strength despite the tools they have been using against us." he added before staring back at her as they got to a more serious, less trivial subject.

When Tomina revealed she was going to teach him Lettis' techniques, Nasu looked surprise for a moment, but then he cracked an odd smirk. "Who would've thought it would come to this. But in the end, I'm not like my father. I honestly never was. Doesn't mean I don't admire him. We just... We never saw things eye to eye." he admitted. The peaceful ideals the Alliance held meant very little to Nasu and even though - for a while - he tried to uphold them, he ultimately failed in follow in the footsteps of his father. His right hand reached his left cheek, touching his scar. "I guess the only real thing I inherited from my father was my looks and this scar I made on myself." and to say that was a bit painful, but also liberating. He couldn't help but to think about the fact that Natto was no more, his very soul had vanished form existence, so he wouldn't taint his memory by saying he did his ideals and beliefs justice.

Tomina correctly pointed out the advantages of using a transformation for the first time and he nodded. "The intense rush of adrenaline can push you beyond your limits. That's a wise yet risky plan. You won't be used to your new form, but you will have a boost in stamina and energy from it. I can't say I don't admire your boldness. And yes, as things currently stand, you can't possibly defeat me unless I allow it." and he wasn't using a humiliating tone, but just stating a fact: Nasu could reach a perfected God Form and, unknown to most of them, push himself further beyond with the Makaioken technique.

As the hybrid transformed, Nasu carefully measured her potential and then he closed his eyes for a moment, tapping into his own power. "For a decent training, I will have to restrict the power of my super saiyan two form to the best of my abilities. I will be stronger, but you will probably be able to keep up." he stated and as he opened his eyes, his aura flared in bright gold.

[Restrained Super Saiyan 2. PL: 19,811,038]

The bio-electricity ran through his body screeching loudly but more contained than when he was to unleash his full power as a super saiyan 2. And so their training begun. Tomina wasn't holding back and used the powerful tactics of the Vegetean Style. At first she seemed to be gaining the upper hand despite him being stronger. It was almost odd how many times Nasu, in between the exchange of blows, would be hit by the Ribs Breaker technique, but ultimately, after a couple of days worth of training, the purpose behind it was revealed as he threw his own version of the technique at her, learning from watching.

Time was something they had to spare, so in between their sparring sessions, they would casually chat about random stuff. "Okra is an interesting kid. I would like to say he looks more like Athren, but as far as behavior, he is far to young to figure out, though, honestly, he seems more gutsy than my son, as much as it pains me to admit so." he would let she know a little more of her estranged and previously unknown nephew and, in a sense, the rightful heir of the Saiyan Empire. As for Lettis' hatred for Natto, Nasu chuckled and smirked at that remark. "To say that she hated him with every fiber of her being is an understatement. I was there when they fought and I could feel her rage vibrating within my every bone. And her utmost frustration when she was about to be killed." and he didn't say that as a mean to tease Tomina, but just as his view as a witness to that epic battle. "And yes... The Super Galick Gun is a fearsome technique. My father was weary of that during the Alliance-Empire War." he remembered, though Tomina's technique didn't look quite Lettis' own, but maybe Nasu's memory was just hazy, so he just shook his head at that thought.

When she shared the conclusion she reached regarding the use of her new form, he couldn't really argue with that and just smiled at her, admiring the boldness of her choice. "Well, I can only say I wish it works out in the end. Our very existence is on the line. I have a dangerous ace to use myself, but... Who knows. I would rather not to rely on that. At least I've mastered by godly ki and thus I can use an even stronger form for a much longer time!" and this was the first time he was revealing that he had attained yet a new form and that he had finally mastered the ki that transcended that of a mortal.

As he almost hit her with her own technique, she revealed she learned the Strong Will and that made him widen his eyes in surprise. "You learned that technique? I'm surprised. That's a very hard technique to master, but again I shouldn't be shocked you of all people was the one to make it." and that simple sentence was enough to show that, even though they may have some disagreements, Nasu respected her as a warrior, a quite capable one. As they continued to spar through the weeks, she brought it to the next level with the Galick Cannon which at first seemed to hit Nasu head on, but his body vanished from the trail of the beam, only to reappear above her as he quickly mimicked her technique. "Taking a closer look at a technique I've seen a couple times, I will try my luck at it! Galick Cannon!" he roared as he fired the attack against her from a vantage position, wondering how she would react to that.

In any case, the training was being quite rewarding and he could already sense an evolution on both of them. Tomina was impressive in the sense that she was being able to keep it up with Nasu's super saiyan 2 form, and during all that time he didn't have to power down, except when sleeping and eating, showing he had fully mastery over his ki. Another funny thing to be sharing the same living spaces at all times was that Tomina could notice that Nasu didn't seem to really have any urges other than fighting and eating; he would casually bathe and walk naked without a care in the world and seeing the woman in the same state wouldn't change his behavior at all, almost as if he was asexual, which could or could not bring some questions to mind.

On the sparse moments of relaxation where they were able to chat, Nasu would naturally allow himself to grow closer to Tomina by sharing some things about his past. "At some point, while Miso was a prisoner on Planet Natto, I would sit by his cell and be awestruck by the glorious stories of planet conquest. This led me to flee from Natto and spend a year conquering a planet. I was proud and fulfilled once I got back, feeling like a real saiyan warrior. But that wasn't taken in a good light by my parents. That was the first time I actually realized we weren't much alike. I was a wild beast, with a thirst for blood that couldn't really be contained and I knew, deep inside, that it bothered them." his tone was a bit disappointed, almost kind of hurt.

Nasu shrugged when Tomina brought up the subject of the succession of the Saiyan Kingdom. "If my son can't become King, that's his own fault. Our race is not about a divine or blood right to rule, but a rightful ruler of the Saiyan race comes from his own merit and power." and that was another point of view that Nasu was sharing with her. His claim to the throne of the Kingdom he made was due to his beliefs and efforts. Even when he took back the sit of Overseer of the Alliance from Etorin, he did so by fighting and killing him. He didn't really replied to what she said about Lettis as he felt there was nothing he could really add at that moment, but it was interesting to understand - from the other point of view - as to why she chose to fight even though his father had warned her about his power and tried to avoid going to war in the end.

When she mentioned Carva though, he folded his arms and cracked a grin. "I fought Carva before coming here and I must say he improved quite significantly. Not only in power, but he seems to have learned how to fight with more finesse." he briefly mentioned, remembering their fight in Namek. "He improved so much we actually recruited him to fight in the Tournament of Power." he revealed, but that was pretty much the end of the Carva subject, at least from Nasu. When she mentioned the reason she learned his technique, he merely said that it was "fair" and didn't dwell too much in that topic as it wasn't really important.

What was funny to notice though was that Tomina was quite self-aware and would avoid being seen naked at all times, which he found quite curious as saiyans were quite used to be naked all around the place, be it because they were inside a healing tank and had to walk to another room to grab his armor and everything. At one point, he had to make a comment. "It's funny. You behave like an earthling in your daily routine." he said, chuckling lightly and just so that she wouldn't really misunderstand him, he would point at the towel and chuckle again. "It's not like I would care about seeing you naked or anything, but I found it rather amusing that a saiyan would be mindful of those things. Heh." and funny enough, his chuckle sounded a bit like Miso.

At another opportunity, she talked about his parents again and he felt like he had to demystify a little bit about them. "My parents wanted peace, but they wanted that because they were sick of seeing their saiyan comrades dying over and over again because of Lettis' never ending thirst of war. My parents weren't really that peaceful. My mother was quite the beast and she had plenty of rage inside her heart. Sometimes she would lose her mind and just go berserk. On top of that she didn't quite like hybrids. My father loved fighting despite the fact that he didn't like killing. But my father, while he liked hybrids without an ounce of prejudice, he hated most of the other races. They weren't the righteous figures people paint them as." and his tone was quite sincere, showing his true view regarding his parents.

The two continued to train hard and Tomina actually surprised him with the Final Blow technique, hitting him hard on the chest and knocking the wind out of his body, but in the couple days that followed that event he would attempt to get back at her and hit with the technique himself, so he could show that he mastered yet another technique of the style.

To say Hell was a training ground to some blessed (or cursed, depending on the point of view) souls wasn't far from the truth; most of the accomplished warriors - good or bad - Nasu knew were in the afterlife got some sort of training, but he didn't add to Tomina's comments, but rather just chuckled when he realized her frustration. He also just shrugged as she dodged his inquire regarding her seemingly unnatural will to cover herself from his uninterested eyes; maybe it had something to do with her lack of tail or something regarding that as he did remember she tied Hakobe's ripped tail around her waist, but if that was the case, then she would've probably noticed that Nasu only had a brown spot where he tail used to be which was now far too cauterized to allow him to ever sprout it again naturally. But he didn't care about it anymore.

When the Alliance subject was brought to light again, Tomina correctly pointed out that the views of the Alliance weren't really aligned with the truth and thus he nodded slowly, sighing deeply. "People idealize things they don't understand. And whenever they seek for justification, they tend to paint it in the holiest way possible." he paused for a moment. "And it's fair to say that my father and my mother hated Lettis, but they didn't hate the Empire. No. As a matter of fact, if it was up to them, they wouldn't bother with it. But the Empire couldn't swallow his betrayal and I can't even count how many times we had to deal with attacking squads either on Planet Natto or in our outposts." and one of these attacks was led by Miso and Koko themselves, back when the first was made prisoner and the second escaped back to Vegeta.

"The honest reason as to why they liberated the slaves was because they were just there, plain and simple. My father had nothing but mistrust for aliens, but he decided it wouldn't hurt to help them out since the war was over. It came back to bite him in the ass and I learned my lesson that day. But put this thing in your head: The Alliance was never about helping anyone but saiyans who were tired of the Empire's way. They didn't care for peace if it didn't involve saiyans' peace." and with those words, Nasu was burying the very idea of an heroic Alliance, and who better than him to reveal such truth. "If Lettis had accepted the existence of it, she would probably still be alive today." he finished by saying that before getting back to training.

Nasu wasn't surprise at all with what Tomina said about Flare. "If it wasn't because of this chamber, Flare wouldn't be worth noticing. She was always a weakling and a coward and never deserved a spotlight. She blasted my head while I was torn in half, already dying from my clash against that fusion. What glory is there for attacking a dead man? As a warrior, I see none. If I had to guess, she fled the fight with Caesar because she was afraid he would kill her too. She went to the place it was safer, where the "heroes" had the numbers. If I can respect anyone of them, I would say the bastard Jie Shan and the other random earthling boy were more of a warrior than all of those cowards together." and even though Nasu didn't know Galen's name, it was the second time he saw the powerless earthling fighting against all odds and that deserved recognition and respect.

But one thing worth noticing was that the saiyans of the Empire had an incredible resistance to pain and that was what Tomina was teaching him now. Over the course of the following days, she burned him over and over again. While at first he was feeling an excruciating pain, with time it was being reduced until he was no longer even fazed by her burning flames. When he reached that point amidst a sparring session, he cracked a cocky grin.

"Guess your flames have grown cold, Tomina. Or you are indeed some accomplished teacher, because I no longer feel any pain." he remarked, chuckling lightly.

”Pride is both our strength and our weakness. My father, on top of pride, has some naivety and he sent that message honestly believing he could crush her spirit so she would let it go. He didn’t want to go to war against saiyans, as a matter of fact, he disliked the whole concept of taking saiyan’s lives. But considering just how much attacks we were suffering from the Empire forces, he felt like we had no other option.” Nasu further explained before hearing she speak a bit more about that subject, now talking about how the strongest man of his time died in a stupid way. Nasu gazed away in clear annoyance – not at Tomina, but at the very memory of how his father met his end – especially when she mentioned wanting a chance of taking revenge against him. Nasu’s expression became quite serious and he closed his eyes, taking a very deep breathe.

”You can’t. He is gone. He destroyed his very soul trying to come back to the world of the living. He did that because he was concerned about me and my siblings. He was naïve until the very end. But ultimately, he cared about his family and friends above his own life.” and Nasu opened his eyes again, staring back at Tomina. His eyes carried an intense fiery determination and truth. ”And as much as I disagree with many of his views, I believe the reason the Alliance won against the Empire was because of the strength of those bonds! He was right about that. Lettis had people following her by mostly fear. My father had followers out of admiration and trust.” and it was clearly which of those views Nasu favored; he wanted to be feared by his enemies, but he wanted admiration, respect and trust from his followers.

Thankfully the subject changed to the Tree of Might event and how twisted the heroes ultimately were and he agreed with that. ”It’s easy to sound righteous with words, but not as easy to behave that way. War destroys most heroes.” he simply stated in the middle of a furious exchange of blows. As for the heroes fighting Caesar, Nasu shook his head. ”In the end they failed. The number of souls in the afterlife by the time I was at the Check-In Station surpassed the million. And that burden is extended to all of those who chose to fight us instead. Those deaths are accountable to their lack of judgment and cowardice.” and even though he had no sympathy towards earthlings, that was the view from a King’s perspective.

There’s no greatest failure than to fail your own people.

As he mastered the technique, he chuckled. ”The damage is there and there’s nothing that can be done about it, but the Wolf School taught me how to nullify those tricky effects, so I have nothing to be afraid of. Hehehehe.” and it was true: the Wolf School technique allowed a warrior to nullify most effects applied to normal techniques and Nasu had that covered.

Their training continued to grow even more intense as the tier of the techniques being used were now strong enough to kill most of the living warriors of this universe in one hit, but those two were far beyond the norm and they could take it. Their resting time between the sparring sessions increased from mere hours to even a couple of days, but they kept on pushing themselves as much as their bodies could possibly withstand and even though Nasu was taken out of commission for a few days by the Spirit Breaking Cannon, he would return the favor as soon as he got back to his fighting condition and possibly throw Tomina out of the picture for the same spam of time.

The intensity of the training was absurd, but they were saiyans. They laughed at the risk and their bodies rewarded them intensely by their constant near death experiences, even though Nasu’s body already had enough so his reward wasn’t nearly as impressive as Tomina’s.

Nasu knew all too well that his father was naive. As a matter of fact it was the said naivety that got him killed in the first place, so there was no denying on what Tomina argued, but he chose not to comment on that anyway. However, when she mentioned that the reliance upon the bonds of family and friendship could be some sort of weakness, Nasu was visibly irritated and frowned his brows, going as far as to discretely grit his teeth. "While it is true that some bonds may shatter, some bonds are solid as the very foundations of this universe. Shutting yourself off out of trepidation they may break is nothing but cowardice. Not only cowardice, weakness even." his tone was harsh, but he wasn't saying that only to be mean, he truly believed the words he said and, if he had to be fair, they were the main reason Nasu had become so strong and because of that, he added something to his words. "That's the reason my father was so strong. He was naive and died like a fool, I can't deny that, but he was the strongest of his time. No... From the way he passed away, he was still stronger than me today, with all the godly power I managed to acquire." he added, closing his eyes for a moment as he tried to picture how much power one could achieve by using the Super Saiyan 3 and Kaioken times one hundred at the same time. From his rough estimation, Nasu pictured Natto being able to reach a power level twice as high as his while using his strongest form and the Makaioken. "And I am the strongest of this generation. How much of a coincidence can it be that the two strongest were people who relied on bonds? Moreover, even the ritual to achieve godhood require that the one undertaking it has enough people willing to share their power even if just briefly." he added that to his argument.

Obviously this discussion was hard on both of them, causing the duo to spend sometime without actually talking to one another. Even though they respected each other, they were fundamentally different in important aspects of their lives. Their creed diverged substantially in crucial areas and it was already quite a feat that they were on the same faction, let alone being able to live together for such a long time, without any time away from one another. One week without speaking was nothing other than an impressive short spam of time for such a conflict to be diluted.

When they got back to speaking, though, they briefly discussed Nasu's techniques and how protect he was and when she told him not to get complacent, he chuckled, cracking a conceited grin. "Hard not to get complacent when you have reached my level, but If I was a cocky dumbass I wouldn't be training this hard, would I?" he pointed out as they kept on clashing against each other to such extreme levels that it was nothing short of extraordinary that they were both still alive and in one piece. At one point, though, Tomina surprised Nasu by proposing to teach him Lettis' secret weapon, the Super Galick Gun. He arched both his brows in disbelief. "Really?" he asked; while it was true he was doing his best to copy the techniques from the Vegetean fighting style, he never thought he would be also learning their ace and that was some welcomed news.

Obviously she set some conditions and he just nodded to that. "Don't worry about that. I never even taught Karota's style to anyone. If you want to teach people the technique, that's up to you. But I won't go behind your back and share what is yours. You should know me better than that by now. I give you my word, and to be honest, my word is worth more than anyone else's word, experience has told me." he shrugged, mildly annoyed by the fact that himself, one who was constantly painted as a cruel villain, was far more honest and honorable than most of the so called heroes.

Tomina told him to dodge the technique and Nasu chuckled, getting ready. "That's easy enough! Heh!" and then, as she fired it, he vanished from sight in order to avoid the technique, but against all odds, even though he was supposed to have dodged the blast, he was still injured by it. Nasu widen his eyes in complete shock and noticed the bleeding on his forehead and as he touched his right brow he could sense a new scar across his face, coming from his right forehead all the way down to his right cheekbone. He stared back at her, both surprised and angry he was hit and since he was completely confident he would've escaped, he lowered his guard and ki, so he was more injured than he would be if he was focused on blocking the technique.

"What the hell happened?! I was sure I dodged it fast enough!!" his tone demanded answers, but he wasn't angry enough he would lose it; he was far more curious and interested in what this technique actually did because this could indeed be an interesting asset under his arsenal.